SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – It’s not rare to see a lopsided score in a JSerra baseball game, but it’s definitely rare when the Lions receive the beatdown.
Or perhaps “steamroll” is a better word. It’s the one Lions coach Brett Kay used after watching his top-ranked team lose, 12-4, to Santa Margarita in a Trinity League game Friday night.
“They steamrolled us, there’s no other way to put it,” Kay said. “ … We’re just not a very tough team, and that’s my fault. We think we’re better than we are and these guys have to be tougher.”
The Eagles (13-5, 1-2) racked up 13 hits and every starter scored at least one run. Their first four batters reached base in a one-run third inning and a three-run fifth inning, and they batted through the order to score eight runs in the second.
Wyatt Thilken reached on an error to start the second. Derek Park then walked and Ryne Russo dropped down a sacrifice bunt.
Six batters later, JSerra starter Brett Sveningson hadn’t recorded the second out and Johnny Carr capped an eight-run rally with a two-run homer to left.
“Guys feed off of each other, you know? And it’s contagious,” Eagles coach David Bacani said. “You could say all you want about baseball being a one-man thing every time someone gets up (in the batters box), but they’re feeding off of each other.
“If you were in the dugout, you couldn’t hear a freaking thing in there. My ears were ringing.”
Early on it seemed JSerra (14-5, 3-1) would follow its first two wins in this series with a blowout. Royce Lewis, Brady Shockey, Chase Strumpf and Davis Wendzel reached base consecutively in the first and JSerra scored two quick runs off Konnor Kwok.
Kwok bounced back and retired the next nine batters in order. He finished five innings with three runs allowed on five hits, three walks and six strikeouts.
“Tip your cap (to them),” Kay said. “We didn’t pitch well, we didn’t play defense well, we didn’t do anything well.”
Lions catcher Lyle Lin missed Friday’s game after getting hit in the left foot with a pitch Wednesday. Kay said he’s hopeful Lin will be healthy by Monday, when JSerra plays at Mater Dei.
Santa Margarita hosts St. John Bosco on Tuesday.
