LONG BEACH – Two senior pitchers met Friday at Blair Field in a Loara Tournament first-round game. It was Lakewood’s Ryan Hare who departed with a complete-game victory over Canyon, 3-1.
Hare (1-0) allowed one run on five hits and struck out nine for the Lancers (1-2).
Hare struck out eight Canyon batters at least once and seven of his victims went down looking.
“(Hare) was outstanding out there,” Canyon coach Mike Najera said. “He started a little slow and then really picked up some stream. But we had some chances with runners on and just couldn’t capitalize.”
Brandon Chambers pitched the first five innings for Canyon (0-1) and got the loss after surrendering two runs on five hits while striking out three. He picked off two runners.
Lakewood got all three of its runs on two-out hits.
Austin Reynolds went 2 for 3 for the Comanches and scored a run on Tyler Cotter’s single in the fourth.
Ryne Kisslan pitched in the sixth for Canyon and allowed Collin Perez’s single to score Chase Nielsen and give Lakewood a 3-1 lead.
“Ryan was gutty and went longer than we wanted him to go, but we needed that win,” Lakewood coach Spud O’Neil said of Hare. “They’re a good team and we were fortunate enough to get some timely base hits.”
Jordan Wisner and John Zanze had the other two hits for Canyon.
“It was our first game and we were a little nervous, but we were happy with what Brandon gave us,” Najera said. “He kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win. That’s why he’s our best pitcher.”
Caleb Lew’s two-out double for Lakewood in the fifth scored Christian Valdez.
