Baseball: Bishop Amat rallies to win Southern Section Division 3 championship

Down, 3-0, La Puente Bishop Amat kept waiting for any chance to rally against Palm Desert in Friday’s Southern Section Division 3 championship game at Dodger Stadium.

The Lancers found a way, scoring one run in the fifth inning and three in the sixth to pull out a 4-3 victory and give Coach Andy Nieto a fourth section title.

The big hits were Michael Palos’ game-tying RBI double in the sixth, followed by the go-ahead RBI single by Bryan Menendez on a pop fly to left field that dropped in. Christian Moya had started the inning with an infield single. Then came an hit batter, and the Lancers took advantage.

Once the Lancers (21-11) took the lead, the game was as good as over the way closer Scott Hurst has been pitching. He came in and struck out the final two batters, igniting a joyous victory celebration near the mound.

“Our guys are extremely resilient,” Nieto said. “They never quit.”

Said Palos, who had two hits: “It was all hands on deck. I was just trying to get up and help out the team. I was looking for the first good pitch to put a good swing and I got it. There was really no point in the game where we thought we wouldn’t be able to come back.”

Palm Desert (26-7) had won 16 consecutive games and had its ace, Andrew Bash, on the mound. Bash gave up six hits, struck out five and walked one. The Aztecs were getting clutch hits early on. Gil Sauceda had an RBI single in the first inning. Steve Schucknecht had an RBI single in the third. Andrew Clark had an RBI single in the fourth.

Alex Garcia gave up 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings, but he was able to work out of several jams to keep the game close for Bishop Amat. Isaac Archer threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.