Baseball: Mousselli’s complete performance guides Valencia
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Working hard and sticking close to that old coach-inspired adage of ‘go out there and give 110%’ will only get you so far. A team needs some heart and soul if it’s going to challenge for a championship, and senior Robbie Mousselli, pictured, definitely fulfills this role for Valencia.
Behind a stellar, two-hit, nine-strikeout performance complemented by a game-clinching two-run double, Mousselli helped pull the host Vikings into the Southern Section-Toyota Division I quarterfinals with a 4-0 victory over Lakewood on Tuesday. Normally, I don’t like to say one player was the difference in any game, but the Cal State Bakersfield-bound senior put on the most spectacular one-man show I’ve seen this season.
‘I’ve never seen him play as great as he did today,’ Valencia shortstop Christian Lopes said. ‘Robbie always helps us get out of the tough situations.’
By the way, in the video I said Dylan Jones had an RBI, but he didn’t -- he had two hits and a run-scored.
OK, so the player who fans and teammates call ‘Mouss’ (I guess that’s how you spell it -- it’s pronounced ‘moose’) didn’t lead the Vikings’ scoring charge totally alone. Lopes and Dylan Jones opened up the sixth inning before Mousselli slammed a ball down the left-field line to drive them both in. Tommy Ferndino and Kyle Eaton then cushioned the lead with a couple of run-scoring singles.
Still, when you consider how Mousselli held a talented Lakewood team to only two hits, there’s no doubt that his performance proved to be the difference in this one. Pretty good for a guy who wasn’t even originally scheduled to get the start (Coach Jared Snyder was thinking of using Josh Corralles again).
Valencia will play Simi Valley on Friday.
Here’s Snyder’s take on the game:
-- Image by Austin Knoblauch