FOUNTAIN VALLEY — The Fountain Valley baseball team went deep Friday afternoon.
The Barons went deep into their bullpen when their starting pitcher went down after just one inning. They went deep into the game, playing into the 10th inning. Eventually, the Barons ended the game by going deep.
Pierson Loska hit a walk-off double to deep center field to score JT Navarro and beat Los Alamitos, 3-2, in a Sunset League game at Fountain Valley High.
“We showed a lot of character by keeping this close and giving us a chance to win in the end,” Fountain Valley coach Deric Yanagisawa said.
Fountain Valley (18-8, 7-4) was given an early test when starting pitcher Willie Aguilar was taken off the mound due to arm soreness while warming up for the second inning.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Mark Tucker and Travis Burleson for picking up the slack for us on the mound,” Yanagisawa said.
Tucker took over for Aguilar and pitched three innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two strikeouts.
Burleson didn’t allow a run in the final five innings and retired the final 12 batters to earn the win. Burleson gave up one hit and collected four strikeouts.
Los Alamitos (12-11, 5-5) scored the game’s first run in the third and took the lead again in the fifth.
Michael Townsend scored on an RBI single by Kyle Rice in the third for a 1-0 lead. Townsend knocked in the Griffins’ second run with an RBI single in the fifth, scoring Jack Keller for a 2-1 lead.
For Fountain Valley, it was Navarro who ignited the Barons’ offensive engine.
“Navarro is our team leader,” Yanagisawa said. “He’s asked to shoulder the load when it comes to getting us going.”
Navarro singled in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Burleson to tie the score, 1-1. In the sixth, Navarro led off with a double. As two Los Alamitos infielders collided, allowing an infield single by Michael Murphy, Navarro scored to make it 2-2.
In the 10th inning, Navarro led off with a single and scored on Loska’s double.
Navarro finished 4 for 4 with a walk and three runs.
