Pierce Slams Door in 9th, 9-7
The skies were gloomy Thursday, but the future looks bright for the Pierce College baseball team.
Danny Phillips hit a ninth-inning grand slam and left-hander Barry Zito was impressive through seven innings, and the Brahmas defeated East L.A., 9-7, at Pierce in the opening round of the Western State Conference tournament.
Zito, among the nation’s top freshmen pitchers last season at UC Santa Barbara, allowed three hits--none after the third inning--and struck out six before leaving with Pierce leading, 5-1.
Phillips, a former All-City infielder for Chatsworth High who played last season at Cal State Fullerton, hit reliever Matt Carrera’s second pitch over the left-field wall with one out to end the game and erase a 7-5 deficit.
Both players transferred last month and wasted no time making an impact. Neither did right-hander Derek Morse, a transfer from Cal State Northridge, who earned the victory in relief.
“Good day for Danny,” Pierce Coach Bob Lofrano said. “He’s only been here about 10 days.”
Zito allowed a run in the third before retiring 12 consecutive batters.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pounder, who transferred to become eligible for the amateur draft in June, exited after reaching a limit of 100 pitches. His performance attracted about a dozen professional scouts and at least seven radar guns.
“I felt like I wasn’t at my best,” Zito said. “My velocity was down and my control wasn’t there.”
Pierce (1-0) scored two runs in the second on a sacrifice fly by Alfredo Saenz and a balk by pitcher Alexander Martinez.
East L.A. (0-2) scored a run in the third, but Pierce answered with two in the bottom half on a passed ball and a throwing error by Martinez.
In the eighth, the Huskies roughed reliever Greg Wold for four runs.
Morse, City Section 4-A Division player of the year for Kennedy in 1996, replaced Wold and worked out of a bases-loaded jam with a double play. Morse (1-0) allowed two runs in the ninth.
Josh Miranda, a freshman from Kennedy, drew a one-out walk to begin the Brahmas’ ninth. A walk by Seth Barkley and single by Dave Lusk set the stage for Phillips, who was hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts.
“I’ve been struggling a bit,” Phillips said. “It’s nice to be playing here. I have a lot of my high school buddies on this team.”
In other tournament games:
Valley 14, LA. City 2--Kyle Leonard gave up two runs and three hits in six innings for host Valley (1-2) in a game called after eight inning because of darkness.
Canyons 3, Cerritos 2--Nick Katzenstien scored from third on a two-out throwing error in the seventh to give the Cougars (4-0) the victory at Cerritos. The game was called after seven innings by darkness.