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SANTA ANA – After losing two straight games and having its record fall to 3-3, the ninth-ranked Cypress baseball team knew its next game was a pivotal one.

“We had a rough week this week. We’ve never been 3-3 since I’ve been here and the group kind of knows that,” Cypress coach John Weber said. “We just are not playing the way that Cypress baseball should be played. That’s really been the message.”

That message seemed to be heard loud and clear Thursday, as Weber’s team responded well, beating No. 4 Mater Dei, 5-0, in a nonleague game at Mater Dei.

“I think the biggest key today was not so much that we beat Mater Dei, it was just that we won and played a good complete game,” Weber said. “We needed that after losing two in a row.”

Cypress junior pitcher James Acuna set the tone early, striking out the first batter and forcing nearly half of the remaining batters he faced to pop out.

Despite giving up four doubles – to Nick Pratto, Blake Hunt, Jonathan Schiffer and Josh Stephen – Acuna did not allow a runner to score.

“When we get opportunities to put runners in scoring position, we trust our hitters to clutch up and get the job done,” Monarchs coach Burt Call said. “We fell a little bit short today, but I know my hitters are very good hitters and they’ll regroup and get back into it.”

The Centurions turned three Monarchs errors into four runs.

Mater Dei senior pitcher Rece Goodman struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings.

Cypress junior Dominic Fletcher reached base in all three of his plate appearances via a single, hit by pitch and an error.

Cypress has a doubleheader against Orange County’s top-ranked team, JSerra, on Saturday at JSerra. Mater Dei visits South Hills of West Covina on Tuesday.