Northwood keeps streak alive, ends another

IRVINE – Not even league-leading Beckman could stop Northwood's high-flying baseball team Tuesday afternoon.

The Timberwolves notched their sixth consecutive Pacific Coast League victory, pushing across two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat the Patriots, 4-2, at Northwood.

The victory helped Northwood (8-5, 6-2) move closer to Beckman (15-5, 5-1). Northwood has played two more league games than Beckman.

It also snapped Beckman's 20-game league winning streak over two seasons. The Patriots' last loss came in the final game of the regular season against University in 2009. Beckman went 15-0 to win the league title last year and won five games in a row this year.

"You have to have a good thing for it to come to an end, I guess," Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle said. "But they are good. Whatever is broken, he (Northwood Coach Rob Stuart) has fixed it."

Stuart was focused on helping his team extend its winning streak.

"I had no idea, that was not something we think about," Stuart said of Beckman's winning streak.

Stuart was happy for his squad, which was coming off two victories last week against Corona del Mar.

"We've won a lot of games in a row, good for our guys," Stuart said. "We're always trying to play the perfect game."

Northwood got a strong pitching performance from Jonathan Model (4-3), who pitched the first 6 2/3 innings to get the win.

"He's starting to believe in himself," Stuart said.

Steven Whisler came on in the seventh to get the save.

Northwood pushed across two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Alex King walked and was sacrificed to second by Kevin Locklear. Danny Mallek walked and King scored when pinch-hitter Saagar Seth reached on an error.

Aaron Globerson drove home pinch-runner Adam Hoang with his second sacrifice fly of the game to make it 4-2.

Robert Solby and Connor Denneen singled with two outs in the top of the seventh to give Beckman some hope. But Whisler struck out Garret Brown to end the game.

"They are just better than everybody right now, they're better than us, I know that, we've lost three in a row," Lavalle said. "They're good. It's no smoke and mirrors, they're just better than anybody in this league and at some point, you just have to acknowledge that.

"The bad news is we have to play them again Thursday."

Northwood moved ahead with a run in the first inning. Eric Winslow singled and scored on King's double off of starter Chad Rieser (4-1).

But Beckman responded in the second. James Kaprielian homered to left field with one to put the Patriots ahead, 2-1.

Northwood then tied the game with a run in the second inning. Mallek doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on Globerson's sacrifice fly.

Model kept the Timberwolves close. Then Northwood finished strong to continue its streak, which has been aided by the leadership of shortstop Justin Gisch, according to Stuart.

"Justin Gisch is a four-year varsity guy," Stuart said. "He's the leader, he's stepping it up, he's why we're winning, no doubt about it, it's not about the hits or the RBI. It's the senior leader that we've always talked about and always wanted and he's the key to our success right now.

"Of course, the pitching is great, but it's senior leadership (that is the key)."

Gisch, who announced on Tuesday he will play next year at Santa Clara said "we're playing great right now."

Frequent team meetings during games seemed to have worked.

"After we lost to Beckman the first time we played them, we've been meeting outside of the dugout before and after each inning and I think that's really helped us come together as a team," Gisch said. "We've also started doing team dinners, because we started out slow.

"Ever since we've done that stuff we've just been playing as a team. I can't say enough about our pitchers. The pitching is unbelievable."

Gisch wasn't the only player making an announcement Tuesday. Beckman catcher Justin Hazard said he has committed to play at UCLA next season.