Long Beach Millikan Tops Mater Dei

Long Beach Millikan Coach Dan Peters wasn’t sure Randy Tymchak, staff ace and workhorse, would be ready to start Friday’s Southern Section Division I quarterfinal game against top-seeded Mater Dei at Blair Field. But Tymchak never had any doubt and told Peters he would be ready.

Tymchak, with help from his defense, was brilliant in limiting Mater Dei to eight hits in a 3-1 upset victory.

“I’ve been running on empty towards the end of this season,” Tymchak said. “But I had already decided that I wanted to face [the Southern Section’s] top seed. I wanted to see how I could do against a quality team.”

At first it appeared Tymchak was in for a long day. After picking off Tony Micheletti at first and getting Mike Kolbach to pop out, Brett Kay singled and Pat Manning walked. Rod Perry doubled to score Kay.

Kolbach had his share of first-inning problems after Josh Weller’s two-out single and Roger Beaver’s double. But Kolbach got Matt Williams to strike out looking.

Tymchak continued to struggle in the second, giving up two singles with one out and the top of the order coming up for Mater Dei (24-4). But Tymchak gained some confidence by getting Micheletti to line into a double play.

“I spent the first three innings establishing my changeup,” Tymchak said. “Once I had them off balance, I felt I got stronger and had command of the game.”

The Rams (23-6), who entered the playoffs in a wild-card game, gave Tymchak all the offense he needed in the third inning. Mark Wells led off with a single and Eric Powell followed with a double. Wells then scored on Beaver’s sacrifice fly to tie the score. Williams’ two-out RBI single put Millikan ahead, 2-1.

In the fifth inning, Mater Dei had runners on first and second with one out when Wells made a great play up the middle and turned a double play to end the inning. Mater Dei never threatened again as Tymchak retired seven of the last eight batters.

Millikan scored on a squeeze play in the bottom of the sixth.