Treybig makes his pitch in El Modena's victory
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The senior throws four-hitter to defeat Aliso Niguel, 6-1, in first-round game.
ORANGE El Modena pitcher Matt Treybig came into the 2008 baseball season armed with a high-80s mph fastball.
When the senior right-hander returned to the mound after suffering an early-season strained pitching arm, Treybig found that his fastball no longer could get into the upper-80s. He had to find another way to get hitters out.
“I started throwing a two-seamer more,” Treybig said. “When I'm throwing it well, it runs like crazy.”
He threw the two-seamer well enough Thursday to run Aliso Niguel out of the playoffs, as the Vanguards beat Aliso, 6-1, in a CIF-Southern Section Division I first-round playoff game at El Modena.
El Modena (15-12) will play Orange Lutheran (22-5), a 2-0 winner over J.W. North of Riverside, in the second round Tuesday. The home team will be determined by coin flip today. Aliso Niguel finished 18-10.
The two-seamer is a fastball hybrid. A pitcher grips the seams where they are closest together on a baseball, the index and middle fingers on those seams. It is released like a fastball, but the grip makes the ball travel slower and, if everything goes right, take a dip just as it approaches the plate.
Treybig, who said 90 percent of his pitches Thursday were two-seam fastballs, gave up four hits to improve to 2-1. He was supported by errorless defense and an offense that scored five runs when there were two outs.
Aliso Niguel took a 1-0 lead in the second when Mike Rafferty's single drove in Mike Nadel.
El Modena tied it in the third when Karl Stuck's two-out single drove in Chris Barnett, who had reached on an infield single.
The Vanguards scored two runs in the fourth inning to take the lead for good. Treybig hit a chopper that bounced over Aliso first baseman Brian Flores' head, driving in Mike Gaut to make it 2-1. With two outs, Andy Lubinski doubled down the left-field line to send in Carlos Diaz and give the Vanguards a 3-1 advantage.
Again with two outs, El Modena scored two runs in the fifth. The Vanguards had Wes Calvert on third base and Gaut on second when Diaz hit a chopper that bounced over the head of Aliso pitcher Brian Carcerano then slid under the glove of approaching shortstop Zach Luther and into center field. Calvert and Gaut scored, making it 5-1.
El Modena scored its sixth run in the sixth, with two away, as usual, as Jordan Foreman singled to drive in Stuck.
>> See more stats from the game
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
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