Seventh-Inning Salvo Sparks El Dorado

It was a victory that El Dorado needed and its big guns made sure it happened.

Joe Turgeon scored on Brian Zurhellen’s one-out double in the top of the seventh inning to break a tie and, one batter later, Brett Marro homered to break open the game as El Dorado beat Cypress, 7-4, in an Empire League game Wednesday at Cypress.

“It’s a huge win,” El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. “If we lose this game, we’re fighting for a playoff spot after only four [league] games, and that’s scary. Now, we’re back in the hunt.”

Getting back in the hunt wasn’t easy, however. The Golden Hawks (6-5, 2-2) trailed, 4-2, entering the sixth inning before run-scoring hits by Justin Angevine and Cory D’Arrigo tied the score, 4-4, and set up the seventh-inning rally.

Angevine went the distance for El Dorado, striking out eight, to improve his record to 3-2. Angevine seemed to have only two problems: hitting batters and his teammates’ blunders in the field.

The Golden Hawks had taken a 2-0 lead on Zurhellen’s two-run single in the top of the first. But Angevine hit Zack Swanson with a pitch with two out in the bottom of the inning. Brandon Gruber then singled and Chad Halbert hit a grounder that got past Angevine and rolled between D’Arrigo and Marro to allow Swanson to score. On his next pitch, Angevine threw to first base as Halbert took off for second. The relay to second was dropped, however, allowing Gruber to score the tying run.

Cypress took a 4-2 lead in the third inning on run-scoring hits by Gruber and Rusty Moore following another hit-batsman, but Angevine settled down the restof the way with a little help fromGullotti.

“Coach Gullotti told me that errors happen and to take it one pitch at a time,” Angevine said.

The loss wasn’t the only bad news for Cypress. Chad Halbert, the Centurions’ starting pitcher, came out in the second inning with a shoulder problem. “I thinkI felt something tear in there,” he said.

Cypress is 3-1 in the Empire League, 8-3 overall.