Southern Section Baseball Playoffs : Mounties Slip in 6th Inning and Lose, 7-2

Montclair Prep appeared in control for the first five innings of the Southern Section 1-A Division quarterfinal playoff game Friday at Fillmore.

The Mounties held a 2-1 lead and pitcher Christian Anderson had struck out eight and allowed only one ball to be hit out of the infield.

But the sixth inning was a different story. Fillmore scored six runs on six hits to post a 7-2 victory and advance to the semifinals Tuesday against Aquinas, a 7-6 winner over Tehachapi.

The first five batters in the sixth reached base against a tiring Anderson. Mike Kosar’s two-run single gave Fillmore (15-6), the defending 1-A champion, the lead for good.

“We told Chris we were going to let him throw in the sixth even though it was getting late in the game and he had been fighting a cold,” Montclair Prep Coach Walt Steele said. “I thought he was still throwing well and they didn’t hit the ball hard--they just did a good job of hitting the ball in the holes.”

Montclair Prep (16-6-1) had the bases loaded with none out in the fifth inning but came away with only one run when Keyaan Cook was hit by a pitch to force in Leland Sparks.