Warriors baseball opener

The Warriors’ varsity baseball team, headed by Coach Matt Parker, had a great season in the Avocado League last year with 15 wins and zero losses. The perfect record of last year’s games was the top of the standard for competing teams and will be the inspiration for this year’s team, following in their footsteps.

The Warriors, in their season opener on March 8, faced the Escondido Cougars. Mike Leake, the Warriors’ starting pitcher, pitched from the first inning up until the seventh, when Coach put in Adam Herter to finish. Leake, pitching in the first inning, struck out one batter, forced a pop fly out on two, and the Warriors were up to the plate. The Warriors started their batting lineup with first baseman David Plante, whose hit was caught deep in left field, making the first out. Leake batted second and his hit to the shortstop was passed to first base, making out number two. Eric Castro was walked after four balls and took his place on first. Next, Cody Burgener hit a double into left field, advancing Castro on to third base while Burgener made it to second. Zane Chavez stepped up to bat and struck the ball with force. As it flew into right field, Castro and Burgener were both able to run home and Chavez made it to second. Chavez received two runs batted in (RBIs). By the end of the third out, the Warriors had a two-point lead.

In the second inning Leake pitched fast and struck out two batters. One hit was scooped up and made for the third out at first base. When the Warriors were up to bat they made three hits, two of which were outs, and a strikeout made the third.

In the third inning, Eric Castro hit the second ball pitched off into the left field fence and stole from second to third base. The next two batters made hits but were caught on the fly.

While playing on the field in the fourth inning, the Warriors’ second baseman was able to create a double play as he caught a ground ball and pitched to the shortstop, who threw to first baseman Plante, finishing up the top of the fourth inning.

The Warriors had an opportunity in the bottom of the fourth that ended early as Plante hit a ball to deep right field that was caught, and the inning retired with two men on the nearly loaded bases.

There was one hit in the fifth inning by Daniel Saldana of the Cougars but there were no opportunities to score and the inning was finished quickly.

It was in the sixth inning when the Cougars started their comeback. Cougar Pat Roman had been watching Leake’s pitching style, came up to bat, and was able to crush the first pitch all the way over the center field fence. The Cougars came out of the dugout to congratulate Pat, whose solo homerun gave the Cougars some confidence back. The Warriors began their sixth inning of batting with Zane Chavez being walked to first. The Warriors then bunted and Chavez made it to second. With two men on base, James Borges’ hit was caught on the fly in center field and the seventh and final inning began.

The Cougars, down 2-1, played the final inning with a passion. The Warriors’ pitcher, Adam Herter, walked the first batter, John Kuripla. The next batter, Cougar Buck Afenir, hit the ball into left field. At this point, Kuripla was on third base and Afenir was on first with no outs. Jack Runchey hit the first pitch he was given into right field, where it was scooped up and thrown to second base and Afenir was tagged for the Warriors’ first out. Kuripla scored for the Cougars with one out and one runner on first.

The Cougars’ David Massinburge hit a long ball off the center fence, which put Runchey on third base and Massinburge made it to second. The Cougars’ next play was a bunt, that didn’t work well and made for two outs. With a man on third and second, the score was 2-2 and it all came down to the next play. Cougar Adam Nowick won the game for his team when he hit his third pitch off the center field fence and advanced both of the runners on base to home, giving him two RBIs. With the score now at 2-4 and Nowick on second base, the next batter hit a grounder and was thrown out at first, making the third out.

The Warriors, in the bottom of the seventh and last inning (high school baseball ends in the seventh inning), had one base hit, two hits that were thrown out at first base and a strike out on the last batter, ending their chances of a comeback. The Warriors lost to the Cougars’ 2-4, making their record 0-1 for the new season.