Big Sixth Inning Propels Baseball to Win over LA Mission

TORRANCE, Calif. - The Warriors sent 10 men to the plate in the 6th inning that led to the Warriors defeating LA Mission for the second game in a row, 4-2 on Tuesday afternoon at Warrior Field.  

After a good pitching duel for the first five innings of the game, El Camino (9-1) finally got to the LA Mission (3-6) starting pitcher in the 6th inning after the Eagles took the lead in the previous inning.  

Max Pappas tossed 7 innings giving up 5 hits, 1 run, and fanning 9 batters. Garrett Spicuzza and Julian Diaz each tossed an inning of relief with Diaz picking up his first save of the season.  

After giving up a lead-off single to Ty Conrad in the first inning, Dominic Eberle (6 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs, 1 earned run, 7 strikeouts) was excellent for the Eagles until the 6th inning when a defensive error opened the door to a big inning for the Warriors.

Ty Conrad, Brett Gieseke, Aaron Orozco, Spencer Long, and Joseph Borges each picked up a hit for the Warriors.  

LA Mission struck first in the 5th inning after a one out single by Andrew Scheinert and a knock by Gabe Gonzalez in the next at-bat advanced him to third.  Scheinert scored on a sacrifice fly by Jose Holguin to score the first run of the game.

The Warriors responded in a big way in the 6th inning after Taishi Nakawake led the inning off with a hit by a pitch.  Gieseke hit a one out single to left field to put runners on the corners. Nakawake scored on a wild pitch and Gieseke advanced to second.  Spencer Palmer reached the bases on an error by the LA Mission shortstop. Matt Beserra walked to load the bases and Aaron Orozco hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Gieseke to make it a 2-1 game.  Both Spencer Long and Joseph Borges hit RBI singles to left field to make it a 4-1 game. Nakawake finally ended the inning in his second at-bat of the inning with a fly out to center field.

LA Mission scored one run in the 8th inning when Garrett Spicuzza was let down by his defense.  Back to back errors by Palmer and Nakawake gave the Eagles runners on the corners. Jonathan Max scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.  However, that's as far as the Eagles would get for the rest of the game.

El Camino heads to Saddleback College on Wednesday, February.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.