Cypress continues its charge through playoffs
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Baseball playoffs: Boles, Nick slug two-run HRs in 4-2 victory over Vista Murrieta.
CYPRESS It hasn’t taken the easiest road, but the Cypress baseball team continues to advance in the playoffs.
Despite losing four of their last five regular-season games and entering the CIF-SS Division II playoffs as a wild-card team, the Centurions have refused to see their season end.
With a strong outing from pitcher Jordan Whitman and two-run home runs from third baseman Brian Boles and second baseman Davin Nick, Cypress defeated visiting Vista Murrieta, 4-2, Friday afternoon.
“We beat a very good team today,” Cypress coach John Weber said. “Whitman pitched well for us today, and the two big blasts from Boles and Nick were huge. It got close towards the end, but I thought we played great.”
The Centurions (20-11) will face El Toro in the semifinals on Tuesday.
Cypress got on the scoreboard first, courtesy of Boles' second-inning two-run blast over the left field fence. It was a no-doubt shot that saw Boles give a long look before beginning his trot around the bases and his teammates poured out of the dugout to meet him at the plate.
“It just felt great,” Boles said. “It was a 3-1 count and I was looking for a fastball and got one. It’d been awhile since I last hit one, so I savored it a little.”
The Cypress fans would not have to wait long to cheer again, as Nick hit his homer in the third, sending a shot to dead center after a double by center fielder Chase Koissian.
That would finish the scoring for the Centurions and leave the end result in the hands of its pitchers.
Whitman, who was the beneficiary of a great throw and tag out of a runner trying to go from first to third on a single in the first inning, was in control for most of the game, scattering five hits over 5 1/3 innings and continually working ahead of the Vista Murrieta (23-6) hitters.
He ran into trouble in the sixth inning, surrendering three consecutive hits and a walk after getting the leadoff batter out.
Danny Pulfer came on in relief and allowed a sacrifice fly before striking out the Broncos’ Aaron Fischbach to end the inning.
Pulfer provided a little drama in the seventh inning when he walked two and allowed the winning run to come to the plate, but he got Holger Robalino to ground out to end the game.
Contact the writer: preps@ocvarsity.com
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