Sanchez Comes to East’s Defense

Defense wins ballgames. And sometimes most-valuable-player awards.

Such was the case for shortstop Freddy Sanchez of Burbank High, who made a pair of flashy defensive plays after providing what proved to be the game-winning hit as the East claimed a 5-2 victory in the 20th Bernie Milligan all-star baseball game Saturday at Cal State Northridge.

“You don’t see many people get it for playing defense,” said Sanchez, who was presented the game’s MVP trophy seconds after the final out. “It’s usually an offensive player.”

Sanchez singled home Brian Baron of Hart in the eighth to give the East a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Sanchez made a sliding stop of a grounder by Royal’s Brent Egan and threw to catcher Travis McGivern of Poly to get Matt Riordan of Westlake trying to score from third.

In the ninth, the West put runners at first and second with two out. But Sanchez snared Riordan’s chopper behind second and fired a bullet to first to end the game.

“I practice every day,” Sanchez said. “I work hard on my defense and my offense. I just see the ball and react. That’s just me.”

East pitchers Paul Diaz of St. Francis--who allowed one hit in three scoreless innings--Dan O’Gara of Paraclete, Jerry Heredia of Poly and Bryan Chan of Glendale limited the West to six singles.

Chan, a left-hander who walked four and was under pressure after entering in the seventh, earned the victory. Chan credited Sanchez.

“I’ve known him a couple of years and I’ve seen him do that time and time again,” Chan said. “It was a great feeling to come out here and play with all the guys you read about in the newspaper.”

Adrian Mendoza of Royal, who allowed four hits and two runs in four innings, took the loss.

There was only one extra-base hit, a second-inning double by Poly’s Steve Guerrero, who was thrown out trying for a triple.

The West narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Aldo Pinto of Kennedy.

The East scored twice in the ninth on an error and a passed ball.