Royal Upsets Millikan, 2-0

Sophomore Mike Rainer made his first varsity appearance and pitched four scoreless innings against the 10th-ranked team in the nation, helping Royal High to a 2-0 upset of Millikan Tuesday in a Southern Section Division I second-round baseball game at Royal.

Senior Matt Pitstick (3-3) finished with three hitless innings after Ben Lemos and Dorian Stitt drove in runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Millikan (23-3) was the top-seeded team in the Division I playoffs and was ranked 10th in the latest Baseball America poll.

Royal (20-9) will face Ayala on Friday at a site to be determined. It is Royal’s first appearance in the quarterfinals in Coach Dan Maye’s six seasons at the school.

Maye said he chose to start Rainer, a 6-foot-5 left-hander, because he was the most-impressive pitcher in an intrasquad game last week.

“We said let’s go with the guy with the best stuff and heck with the experience and the grade,” Maye said.

Rainer, who pitched in only two junior varsity games because of injuries and mechanical problems, gave up two hits in four innings. He struck out three and walked four. A double play helped him out of a jam in the first and he escaped the second when Millikan botched an attempted suicide squeeze.

The Highlanders, who had only two hits, scored in the sixth when Lemos singled home Kevin Mellinger from second. Pitstick took second on the hit, went to third on a fly ball and Stitt squeezed him home.

A Millikan batter was safe on an error with two out in the seventh, but Pitstick ended the game by inducing a pop fly.

“We played well,” Maye said. “We saw a real good pitcher and a real good team and we played well all day long.”