Baseball: Hicks caught napping, title game going into ninth
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Long Beach Wilson’s Aaron Hicks may be hitting his stride on the mound, but he needs to cool it a little on the base paths.
Wilson and Simi Valley remain locked in a 1-1 tie heading into the ninth inning of their Southern Section-Toyota Division I final, and part of that has to do with Hicks being caught in a rundown by Simi Valley third baseman Kyle Raskin. It marked the second time in the eighth inning Hicks was caught hanging out in no-man’s land.
Simi Valley’s Nick Russo relieved Drew Sandler, who had walked Hicks to begin the inning, and Sandler took over as catcher for the Pioneers. He quickly caught Hicks napping after a pitch and threw the ball to first baseman Eric Bernstein. Hicks broke toward second and beat Bernstein’s poor throw.
Two plays later, Sandler made a pick-off throw to second and caught Hicks too far from the bag. He was eventually tagged out by a diving Raskin.
Cal State Fullerton-bound shortstop Jonathan Meyer then turned a perfect 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Hicks struck out the side in the top half of the inning and has struck out the last four Simi Valley batters.
-- Austin Knoblauch
