GARDEN GROVE – In sports, you are told to capitalize on your opponent’s mistakes, and Los Alamitos’ baseball team did that in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs.
The Griffins took advantage of errors by Pacifica to score all of their runs in a 5-3 victory on Friday at Pacifica High.
Los Alamitos advances to the second round. It will play at El Dorado on Tuesday, June 8.
“It was a big team win,” Los Alamitos pitcher Josh Donegan said. “We all hit and Cole (Tryba) came in and shut it down in that last inning. It was a big team win with our energy and our fans coming to support us.”
Postgame interview with Los Alamitos pitcher Josh Donegan. 6.2 innings of work to get the win for Los Al!@ocvarsity @asb_los @LosalLocos @losalbaseball @LosAlAthletics pic.twitter.com/c5Xckx0Kgl
— Manny Alvarez (@MAlvarez02) June 5, 2021
Los Alamitos (17-7) scored first in the second inning thanks to three errors by the Mariners to make it 2-0.
The error bug stung Pacifica (15-12) again in the seventh inning when the ball bounced off the glove of an infielder, allowing two runs to score. Los Alamitos’ Grant Muhlenbruch drove in another run in the inning with a two-out single.
“The ball just didn’t bounce our way,” Pacifica coach Mike Caira said. “Hats off to Los Al. Matt (Nuez) does a good job over there. They capitalized. We don’t make errors and we made four (in the game) and they scored on every single error we made. It was tough to swallow that one.”
Pacifica fought back in the seventh inning by loading the bases with two outs. Johnny Morales got on base with a Los Alamitos error in the outfield and two runs scored on the play.
Aiden Colin then singled to send Ken Faul home before Los Alamitos recorded the final out.
Colin went 2 for 4 with an RBI while throwing 4.2 innings and giving up two earned runs for Pacifica while Ryan Anema went 2 for 3.
Donegan threw 6.2 innings while giving up two earned runs to record the win for the Griffins. Mike Pirrello went 2 for 3 for Los Al, which has a few days to prepare for El Dorado.
“Coach (Matt) Lucas does a great job out there with those guys,” Los Alamitos coach Matt Nuez said. “Really great program. We’ll regroup and enjoy the weekend.”
Postgame interview with Los Alamitos coach Matt Nuez of his Griffins advance to the second round of the CIF-SS playoffs!@ocvarsity @asb_los @LosalLocos @LosAlAthletics @losalbaseball pic.twitter.com/tfVAbeuRBh
— Manny Alvarez (@MAlvarez02) June 5, 2021