Baseball: Simi Valley builds seemingly insurmountable lead

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It’s getting ugly here. Simi Valley scored eight runs and had five hits in the bottom of the fourth inning Friday to blow open what was a close game against Valencia and take an 11-1 lead over the visiting Vikings in a Southern Section-Toyota Division I quarterfinal showdown.

The scoring outburst didn’t sit well with Valencia, and following a Kyle Raskin bunt, relief pitcher Dustin Lucas threw behind the next Simi Valley batter, Nick Russo. Next thing you know, Pioneers Coach Matt La Belle and Vikings skipper Jared Snyder are out on the field, attempting to calm everyone down.

Like I said before, this one is getting ugly.

Valencia managed to score a run in the top of the fifth inning on Christian Lopes’ second home run of the game. But Simi Valley has answered in the bottom half of the inning and is on the verge of scoring more runs, considering the Pioneers have loaded the bases with no outs.

-- Sean Ceglinsky