From LBPOSTSports.com: The Rams entered Tuesday afternoon’s game against Lakewood trying to do a lot of big things—in the first five games of league play, the Rams hadn’t given up a run, and a shutout against Lakewood would give them a perfect end to the first round of league, with 42 scoreless innings. But all big considerations aside, they were trying to win a ball-game, too, and that’s what they did as they played error-free ball and capitalized on two Lakewood mistakes to roll to a 2-0 victory. They take an historic first round, as well as a commanding two-game lead, into the second half of the season.
Video by J.J. Fiddler
With Millikan ace Josh Frye squaring off against Lakewood’s recently returned Jonathan Worrell, there was no question it was going to be a donut-filled afternoon on the Millikan campus field—through four innings, what was all there were, as the Rams’ Jonathan Singleton (who had hittable pitches for one of the first times all season) was the only one who could get anything going, with two singles.
Time and time again, Frye got into trouble, and his defense dug him out—“I missed my spots a little,” said Frye, who admitted he didn’t have his best stuff on Tuesday. “The defense really picked me up, and every inning I was coming in and working with my coaches.” After seven innings, that defense’s help was obvious in the fact that Lakewood had 8 runners stranded on base, with no runs.
The turning point of the game was in the top of the third—Frye walked Anthony Razo and Tyler Leidholdt, putting men on first and second with just one out. Then, as Millikan tried a spaghetti move, they caught Razo sleeping, and picked him at second. Alex Padilla hit a single just after, putting runners on first and third—if Razo hadn’t been picked in a heads up play, he would have come home to score, and broken the scoreless streak. Frye said, “That was a game changer—that one got us going for sure.”
“Everything is going their way right now,” said Lakewood coach Spud O’Neill. “They’re having one of those seasons.”
Click here for the full article by Mike Guardabascio…