Baseball Defeats Antelope Valley at Home

Baseball Defeats Antelope Valley at Home

TORRANCE, Calif. - El Camino College held on to a 4-2 win over visiting Antelope Valley College on Monday at Warrior Field.

It wasn't the prettiest game on the field today.  The Warriors (28-6) were actually outhit by the Marauders (12-20) but the pitching staff for the visitors gave up nine walks compared to the Warriors zero.   Aaron Orozco was the only batter for the Warriors to have a multi-hit day. Wyatt Hendrie had three hits for the visitors.

It was a designated all-staff pitching staff for the home side.  Nathan Draves made his first pitching appearance in 12 games and started the game for the Warriors.  He faced the minimum nine batters in three innings of work and struck out one batter. Garrett Spicuzza tossed the middle three innings and gave up two runs on five hits and fanned three batters.  Julian Diaz picked up his second save of the season after throwing the last three innings and allowing two hits and striking out four batters.

The Warriors took the lead in the second inning with one run.  Brendon Casillas singled in Aaron Orozco after Orozco had a one out double to left center.  They loaded the bases briefly with two outs but Pamer popped up to the shortstop to end the frame in that inning.

The Warriors made it 2-0 in the third inning.  Spencer Long and Aaron Orozco had base hits while Ty Conrad reached on an infield error to load the bases.  Matt Beserra hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in a run. Casillas was able to walk with two outs to load the bases again but Nakawake flied out to LF to leave three men stranded once again.

The Marauders got one run back in the fourth inning after getting three hits all with two outs.  Griffin Hagen hit an RBI single after Wyatt Hendrie had a triple down the RF line. Carlos Martinez-Mora doubled in the next at-bat to put runners on 3rd/2nd but Spicuzza was able to fan JJ Holiday to end the frame for the Marauders.

Antelope Valley tied the game up in the Top of the Sixth inning.  Wyatt Hendrie singled in Celso Castro IV after he led the inning off with a single.  The Marauders loaded the bases with one out after Spicuzza pegged two batters in a row but he was able to battle back with two strikeouts to once again end the threat from the Marauders.  

El Camino College got the lead right back in the bottom half of the inning.  Taishi Nakawake beat out a potential inning double play with two outs to get on base.  Logan Young hit a high pop-up to first base that somehow ended up being a single after the pitcher, second basemen, and first basemen let the ball drop and Nakawake advanced to third.  Spencer Palmer hit a double off the left center wall to score Nakawake and make it a 3-2 game. Borges walked to load the bases for the third for the Warriors with two outs but Long grounded out to end the inning.  

The Warriors added an insurance run in the seventh inning.  They had three batters walk before Nakawake hit a sacrifice fly to CF to score Conrad and bring in a run to make it 4-2.  Jerry Granillo worked a walk to load the bases for the fourth time of the game with two outs but Palmer flied out to end the inning.  

Antelope Valley had a chance to bring in some runs in the eighth inning after the 2 and 3 hole hitters led the inning off with back to back singles.  But Diaz was able to strike out the next batter for the first out and induce a 463 double play to end the threat.

The Warriors continue their four game non-conference slate with a home game vs Fullerton College on Wednesday, April 17th.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM at Warrior Field.