San Diego Mesa Olympians baseball team lost today against the Irvine Valley Lasers 3-2 in the 11th inning in a gritty game. In which they pulled off a late comeback to tie the game but it was just not enough.
The game started off strong with a quick run added to the board with an RBI double by Irvin Valley’s Jake Amundson followed with a quick strike out of the side by pitcher Luke Acuna. Then to lead off the third inning Irvine Valley Adrian Covarrubias hit a home run to extend the lead to 2-0. Looking into an early deficit the Olympians had to dig deep to not let this game get out of control.
After a rocky first 3 innings in which Mesa pitcher Payson Lee allowed 3 hits and 2 runs, he buckled down and only allowed 2 hits and struck out 7 batters while allowing 0 runs the rest of his outing, making his final pitching line 6 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks and 10 strikeouts. His Fastball-Breaking Ball combination was giving Irvine Valley fits all game in which they looked unbalanced most of the game against Lee with the exception of two mistakes from Lee.
“I feel like I did pretty well today. I definitely felt like I must attack the hitters, I knew they were not going to give me a lot, so just throwing strikes, getting ahead early and just attacking them and I felt like I did a pretty good job at that.” Payson Lee on his performance today.
In the bottom of the 5th inning the Olympians found some momentum against tough a tough lefty pitcher in Luke Acuna, and were able to get the bases loaded with 1 out down 2-0 with a string of back to back hits by Carson-Kai Lewis and Alejandro Leyva-Ramos and a hit by pitch for Michael Firestone. In the middle of the at bat for Jacob Larza, there was confusion in the middle play as Lewis tried to steal home on which looked like a suicide squeeze in which the hitter tried to bunt the ball while the runners had a head start to score but it was unsuccessful as Lewis was tagged out by Irvine Valley Catcher Shane Flyn.
This run cost them later in the game but, Jacob Larza was able to cut the lead in half with an RBI single but the rally would come up short as Joseph Anderson hit a line drive right at Irvine Valley right fielder Sam Tucci in an unlucky out.
After some quick innings in the 6th,7th and 8th the Olympians came up in the 9th inning down by 1 run. After an error by the Irvine Valley first baseman Jacob Ceja and a stolen base followed by a bad throw by Shane Flynn, Hunter Kaul was able to advance to 3rd base. With 2 outs in the 9th and tying runner on 3rd, Carson-Kai Lewis was able to drive in the tying run with a single to right field.
To keep the Olympians in the game, pitcher Aidan Molinari was brought into the 7th inning to keep the game within a run at 2-1. Even though he was asked to just keep the game where it was at, he was able to provide major innings and not waste the bullpen of the Olympians and threw 5 innings in relief only allowing 1 un earned run with 5 hits, 3 strikeouts and 1 walk. He was a big factor in the Olympians coming back and tying this game in the 9th because he was able to keep a great offense at bay.
“I was just trying to compete, I was willing to let my defense make plays for me because we have a really good defense, and I was just challenging the hitters with what I have because I know I’m really good and confident with what I throw.” Aidan Molinari on how he was able to neutralize Irvine Valley and lead the team into the 11th inning.
In the top of the 11th inning Irvine Valley was finally able to break the tie with a ground out to third base, after the scoring runner advanced to third after an error by first baseman Anthony Tompkins on a ground out to Catcher Jacob Campagna. The game ended on a double play hit by Gianluca Fanelli.
“We competed really well for one another, our offense execution lacked, we can’t strikeout that many times in a game and expect good things so as long as we stick to the approach to put the ball in play we’ll have a better outcome next time.” Coach Portugal on the team’s performance today. The strikeout was a killer for the Olympians today as they struck out 15 times today against some really good pitching for Irvine Valley.
In 2 weeks conference play starts for the Olympians as they start facing their San Diego rivals, coach Portugal on how the team bounces back from a gritty game and looks forward to conference play.
“Whether we win or lose the key factor is to learn from the performance so, the goal will be to learn from it, learn to put the ball play more, learn to execute down the stretch defensively, simplify the game, so whether we won or lost today I don’t think it changes what we’re trying to do.” Coach Portugal on what it means to learn from this performance and the goal moving forward.
It was a gritty game from both teams as Irvine Valley wins this game 3-2 in the 11th inning and for Mesa College, it is looking forward to open conference play against Palomar Feb. 26.
