Mission Viejo wins battle on Florer's hit
Mission Viejo wins battle on Florer's hit
His two-run double in the sixth gives the Diablos a 2-0 victory over M.L. King of Riverside.
RIVERSIDE - Matt Florer broke a scoreless tie with a two-run double in the sixth, and Mission Viejo won a pitching duel with M.L. King of Riverside, 2-0, on Tuesday in a Division I wild-card game in the CIF-SS baseball playoffs.
“That two-run double was clutch," Mission Viejo coach Chris Ashbach said of Florer's hit. "He has put good swings on the ball all year. He’s got the best short swing on our team, so I knew he’d get a good at bat, but the extra-base hit was great.”
Mission Viejo (17-11) advances to play Millikan of Long Beach in a first-round game Friday at Blair Field. M.L. King finishes with a 14-14 record.
In the sixth, Brian Glynn started off the Diablos' rally with a single. By the time Florer went to the plate, there were runners on first and second and two outs. He drove the ball to center field for a double that scored two runs.
“Just coming in there, I knew I needed a clutch hit,” Florer said, who also pitched two-thirds of an inning in the bottom of the sixth. “I knew a curveball was coming to me. Thank God it was a curveball, and I sat back and hit it.”
Scott Brattvet pitched the seventh for the Diablos. He gave up a walk, got the next two batters out, but then allowed MLK shortstop Kegan Dale to single. With the potential winning run at the plate, Brattvet got out of the jam by getting the batter to pop out.
“When we had men in scoring position, we did not capitalize and have that key hit,” MLK coach Ken Scott said. “They had men on first and second and had that key double that scored runs. That’s the difference in the ballgame."
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