Quick Hits:
- Round two between the two Div. III heavyweights and it was another thriller. Although the bats were not exactly lighting up for Gahr or Warren. The Bears edged out the Gladiators 1-0 to avenge Tuesday’s 5-4 loss in the league opener.
- If you talked to both coaches after the game you would could not tell which one was on the winning side. But Gerardo Perez and Scott Pearson knew their teams did not play good games. Both said they could play much better and hope to be much better teams in about a month.
- Ace Alan Trejo made his start for the Bears and improved to 5-0. The senior took a little bit to adjust, throwing seven balls on his first nine pitches. But he settled down enough to pitch five strong innings with four strikeouts. By his own admission he didn’t pitch his best game.
- George Castillo made the start for Gahr and earned his second loss of the season.
- Gahr had a lot of trouble getting anything going against Trejo and that Warren defense. The Gladiators only got past three batters in just two innings.
- Warren was up and down on offense. They were able to get runners on base but they couldn’t bring them home in those situations. Overall, they left 11 runners stranded and threatened to score numerous times.
- The Bears finally broke through in the fourth inning. Shortstop Jose Ruiz beat a throw to first and ended up being safe at second when Steve Nuno’s line drive up the middle was bobbled at second on the potential tag. That was followed by Christian Altamirano laying a sacrifice bunt, but the throw to first was high and the Bears found themselves with bases loaded with no outs. Pinch hitter Evan Holmes came up to bat and he just sat and waited. He simply drew a walk and Warren was on the board.
- Walks were big for the Bears Friday. They drew seven on the day and at least one in every inning.
- Before Warren came to the plate in that inning, Trejo was shouting in the dugout “We need to score here. We are going to score here.” You can call him and ace and now you can call him a psychic after that.
- After Trejo came out (5th inning), Pearson inserted the lefty Freire. The kid had ice in his veins. In the sixth he recorded a strikeout then forced to quick pop outs. The seventh was interesting as the junior walked Jamie Estrada, but then struck out Albert Avila. David Balboa hit a line drive but that forced Estrada out at second. So with two outs, Freire found himself going against Nick Guerra (who was in as a reliever for Gahr). They battled to a 3-2 count where Freire struck out Guerra looking earning him a mobbing from his teammates. Pearson said he was so calm, “even when the weight of the world was on his shoulders on every pitch.”
- It was almost a reversal of roles from Tuesday. Warren looked like the more comfortable team today and Gahr was the one not doing the little things. Gahr threatened, but Warren closed it out with defense. The exact opposite of Tuesday.
- Pearson said this was a make or break game for Warren. Starting 0-2 league with Downey on the horizon would have been very bad indeed.