FREEWAY LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Sunny Hills Overcomes Four-Run Deficit to Beat Buena Park
Buena Park High School’s season of frustration continued Friday as the Coyotes blew a four-run lead in the final two innings and lost to host Sunny Hills, 5-4, in a Freeway League game.
Buena Park (3-8, 1-4) outplayed league-leading Sunny Hills and held the Lancers to only one hit through five innings before self-destructing in the sixth and seventh. It was the seventh one-run loss for Buena Park.
Sunny Hills (10-3, 5-0) didn’t get its first hit until shortstop Brent Howes chopped a single over second base with one out in the fifth inning, but Howes was later caught trying to steal.
“It seemed like everything we were doing backfired on us,” said Doug Elliott, Sunny Hills coach. “We didn’t do anything right for five innings and they played great. They always play us tough.”
Buena Park starting pitcher Gino Robles mixed a good curveball with a slider that kept Sunny Hills hitters off-balance most of the afternoon. But Robles began to tire in the sixth inning, and when he walked the first two batters, Coach Dave Magnuson called on sophomore Alredo Griffin for relief.
Buena Park had a 4-0 lead when Griffin allowed run-scoring singles to Sunny Hills’ Rick Orr and Chris Looney that trimmed the Coyotes’ lead to 4-2. Looney had the winning hit in the seventh, driving a two-run double over Buena Park left fielder Albert Trujillo’s head with two outs.
Looney (3-2) pitched just well enough to win, allowing one run to score after a wild pitch in the second and two more in the fifth when he threw wildly to first on a sacrifice bunt attempt.
But the left-hander made up for the mistakes with his bat, getting a single and a double and driving in three runs for Sunny Hills. Afterward, Looney said he expected a fastball from Buena Park’s third pitcher, Scott Kimball, when he got his game-winning hit in the seventh.
“I noticed that he (Kimball) had thrown only one curveball to the previous hitter, so I was waiting for a fastball,” Looney said. “Nothing went right today, but it shows the character of this ballclub that we can fight back to win a game like this.”
Almost lost in the disappointing defeat was some fine base running by Buena Park second baseman Richard Cabral. Cabral walked twice and reached base safely on an error, which spelled trouble for Sunny Hills catcher Erren O’Leary. Cabral ran at will, stealing five bases, including home in the third inning.
Despite the fine showing by his team, Magnuson was wondering what went wrong after Buena Park had played so aggressively for five innings.
“After you lose so many one-run games, you start thinking, ‘What’s going to happen now?’ ” Magnuson said. “The kid (Robles) pitched a real good game and we were so aggressive on the bases. We’ve just been struggling with a lot of inexperienced players. Sooner or later, we’re going to start winning these types of games.”
In other Freeway League games:
Troy 6, La Habra 1--Troy scored all six runs in the fifth inning after La Habra took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Haruhako Oda walked to lead off the fifth inning and Steve Friedrich followed with his eighth home run of the season to give Troy a 2-1 lead.
Troy eventually loaded the bases and Mark Pocinich squeezed in one run. Three runs then scored after a wild throw past third base, and Pocinich eventually scored on Brian Burchit’s squeeze. Guy Pinelli (5-0) pitched a five-hitter and struck out nine with three walks for Troy (9-2, 4-1).