3-A Baseball Playoffs : Western Hitters Ambush Upland : Pioneers Get 13 Hits; Lodding Allows Only 3 in 8-2 Win

Western High School Coach Dave Bowman went into Tuesday’s second-round Southern Section 3-A playoff game expecting a long bus ride and a short pitcher’s duel.

He left with a shorter-than-expected bus ride (45 minutes) to Upland’s Memorial Park and a long, 2 1/2-half-hour game, prolonged largely because the Pioneers were having fun batting the ball around the park.

Bowman didn’t mind the wait, however, as the Pioneers left with an 8-2 victory and a couple of records to go with it.

Included are most wins in a season for the Pioneers (24-4), the first road playoff win under Bowman’s tenure, and the first time they made it past the second round since the Andy Messersmith days of the early 1960s.

Western pitcher Rich Lodding (11-2) made short work of Upland, allowing only three hits and two unearned runs.

“His control was pretty good,” Bowman said. “He was throwing strikes, plus we seem to be making better-than-average plays on defense.”

Indeed, Lodding walked only two batters, struck out five, and shortstop Paul Boucher led the defense with nine putouts.

“We stress fielding a lot in practice,” Bowman said. “We’ve cut our error total in half over last year. We made 70 errors over all of last season and now we have only 30-some.”

The Pioneers made two errors Tuesday, one of which allowed the two Highlander runs to score, but by then the game was out of reach.

The Pioneers had 13 hits, including four doubles and a triple.

“Anytime you get double-figures in hits in a playoff game, you’ve got to be happy,” Bowman said.

Western jumped to a 5-0 lead, scoring twice in the first inning and adding three more in the second. The Pioneers would add three runs in the fifth inning to give Lodding an 8-0 margin before the Highlanders scored.

Designated hitter Mark Tranberg got the Pioneers started, doubling in leadoff hitter David Brown in the first inning. David Tellers singled Tranberg home.

On Friday, Western will play Tustin.

Upland ended its season 15-9.