Graves, La Cañada baseball get job done against Temple City
Holding a one-run lead late on a sunsplashed field, La Cañada High sophomore baseball pitcher Matt Graves refused to wilt.
With the potential tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with no outs in the sixth inning, Graves proved to be impressive in getting out of a major jam.
“I trusted myself and my stuff to get out of it,” said Graves, who went the distance to lift visiting La Cañada to a 4-0 Rio Hondo League win against Temple City on Friday.
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La Cañada (15-5, 7-0 in league) held a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. With two runners in scoring position, the right-hander got a pop up to second before loading the bases with an intentional walk. Graves then picked off Ryan Lewis on a squeeze attempt for the second out before getting out of the jam with a groundout to second.
“[Lewis] broke and I was a little surprised at first,” said Graves, who scattered six hits and struck out one in the shutout. “I made a perfect throw home to get him.
“I felt good out there, even though it was a little hot. I just had to slow down and find a way to execute and pitch to location.”
La Cañada first-year Coach Matt Whisenant said Graves proved to be impressive in handcuffing Temple City (10-11, 4-4) in the inning.
“We had talked on the mound about calling for a pick-off and fortunately the gamble worked out,” Whisenant said. “He’s very composed for his age. He can go out there and make it look easy a lot of times, but he really came though there when we needed him to.”
With second-place San Marino (4-3 in league) awaiting on Tuesday, Friday’s win put the Spartans a victory away from clinching a share of their first league title since 2013.
La Cañada took a 1-0 lead in the sixth on a sacrifice fly to deep right by Graham Massimino that scored Tristan Kalnins, who opened with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
The Spartans added some insurance in the seventh.
Tai Walton hit a ground-rule double with the bases loaded to center to score Graves and Kyle Mysliviec to make it 3-0.
“I felt good coming up in that situation,” Walton said. “I was glad to get a couple of RBIs out of that.
“I was just looking to drive it more toward right-center field, but I just got a good pitch to handle right there.”
La Cañada closed out the scoring on another sacrifice fly to left by Massimino.
The Spartans had two quality scoring opportunities earlier in the fast-played game that took a little less than two hours to complete.
In the second, the Spartans had a runner on second with two outs. Mysliviec lined a ball beyond first base when Temple City first baseman Jake Trabbie made a diving catch.
An inning later, La Cañada loaded the bases with one out against starting pitcher Isaiah Isaac, but were unable to push a run across.
The Spartans finished with six hits, including two from Kalnins. Yugi Sakane and Isaac contributed two hits each for the Rams.
“It’s typical for our pitchers to keep us in games,” Whisenant said. “We’re normally efficient with our at-bats and fortunately we found our offense when we needed to.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
