Sylmar Defeats Grant in the 7th, Takes Over First

Sylmar High’s baseball team doesn’t have any power hitters, fielding aces or pitching sensations. But what it does have--sole possession of first place--makes the Spartans the envy of every other team in the East Valley League.

“Everybody just does their part,” Sylmar catcher Romero Castro said. “When the big time comes, you’ve just got to do it.”

Romero was up to the occasion.

The senior hit a Rodney Beck fastball into left field in the bottom of the seventh inning to score the winning run, as the Spartans beat Grant, 3-2, at Sylmar on Tuesday. The loss dropped Grant (7-2) to second place.

“Like I’ve said before, we don’t have any stars on this team,” said Sylmar Coach John Klitsner, after his team improved to 8-2. “We didn’t hit the ball real hard and we made a couple of mistakes.

“But these guys were ready to play. This was the biggest game most of these guys have ever played.”

It certainly was for winning pitcher Biff McGahan (3-0), who has become something of a savior for Sylmar--as an infielder turned pitcher.

“He’s had two wins in two starts in two big ballgames,” Klitsner said. “The guy is a real good competitor. He doesn’t shake.”

The junior right-hander gave up only four hits, walked two and struck out seven. McGahan picked up a win in relief earlier in the season.

Tuesday’s victory did not come easy. After four lackluster innings, Grant’s Scott Edwards tripled to the right-field wall, scoring Rob Hunt, who had walked. Edwards scored when Neal Goldman bounced a single over second baseman Brent Packer. With one out and one on, McGahan struck out Jason Peterson and Mike Berger--the No. 1 and No. 2 batters in Grant’s lineup--to retire the side.

Sylmar answered with a run in the fifth to trail, 2-1. Mark Girard’s grounder to third wound up a two-base error by Jon Hauptman. Girard took third on a wild pitch by Beck and scored when Castro singled to center.

McGahan pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, but Grant endured a longer inning the bottom half.

Packer bunted and third baseman Hauptman again threw wildly to first. Packer was awarded second base on the error and stole third on the next pitch. Shortstop Jose Garcia then singled to left, and Packer scored to tie it.

Grant went quietly in the seventh and set the stage for Castro’s game-winning hit. David Nunez led off with a single to center and reached second on a bunt by Girard. Nunez advanced to third on an Isidro Rodriguez groundout.

Castro came up and drilled Beck’s fastball.

“He (Beck) is really tough and he’s got really good stuff. But I was looking fastball all the way. All this hard work has paid off.”

Ironically, Castro, who had two hits and two RBI, bats eighth--a fact that doesn’t seem to bother him.

“Hey, I just work hard in practice and play tough during games,” he said. “All the good stuff will come later.”

Also hopeful of good stuff is Grant Coach Tom Lucero. His Lancers have lost two straight after winning six in a row in league. The Lancers were upset, 3-2, Thursday by Fairfax and Beck, who is one of the Valley’s leading pitchers with an 0.34 ERA, lost that game, too.

“I thought after losing to Fairfax, that we’d come back really tough, but we just had a breakdown,” Lucero said. “We made a lot of mental mistakes. We made more mistakes than they did. I told the team before the game that if we made mistakes, a good team like Sylmar would take advantage of that.”

Of Beck, whose record fell to 2-2, Lucero said: “I think he threw just as hard as he has in any other game. Our fielding was terrible but Beck was throwing just as hard in the last inning as he was in the first inning.”

“This is only the halfway mark and we play Sylmar again,” Lucero said. “We’re not out of it.”

Sylmar travels to Hollywood on Tuesday and Grant hosts Polytechnic.