Quick Hits:
- Big heavyweight fight here and Gahr, marred by early mistakes was able to pull it out 4-1. Downey just wasn’t able to capitalize more on those errors. They were able to take a 1-0 lead, but nothing more.
- Paul Versteeg and Tyler Tungate both went the distance for their respective teams. Versteeg (5-2) was the one to get the win, despite those early miscues that could have sunk the team. But even when the Gladiators made those mistakes they would also come back with a clutch grab or a little thing to make up for it.
- Downey entered as one of, if not the hottest team in the area having won 11 straight games. They also made the Div. III Top 10 poll, coming in at No. 9. Gahr maintained their spot at No. 1.
- The Vikings took their lead in the third, as Victor Hernandez scored on an errant throw to second base. That was the fourth foul of the first three innings for the Gladiators. From then on it was smooth sailing for the most part.
- Gahr got on the board in the fourth inning. Hits by Alberto Avila and Jorge Rivas got the juices flowing for the Gladiators. Avila’s hit was an RBI single and Avila was brought in by a sac fly by Victor Salazar.
- There was a lot of controversy in the fifth inning. Tungate and Downey found themselves in a jam with bases loaded with a single out. Rivas came up to the plate and smacked an easy hopper to Francisco Murillo at third. Quickly, Murillo tossed the ball home to tag the Gahr runner for the out. But the Downey dugout and bench saw that out as the final part of a double play, believing Murillo tagged third before the throw for a force out of Jamie Estrada. But the umpires did not see it that way. They had a meeting to talk about it but they stayed with the no tag call. The Downey side was irate.
- Right after that call, David Balboa sent a screamer to the same spot and scored two runs to grab all the momentum and the 4-1 lead.
- The Vikings looked like they couldn’t recover from that controversial inning. They kind of looked deflated. Coupled with the fact that Versteeg was hitting his stride, there was no threat from Downey in the final two innings. They went three up and three down.