The Millikan Rams kept pace with the rest of the Moore League leaders yesterday with a 9-3 victory over the visiting Compton Tarbabes.

Here is a report from the game by Millikan student and aspiring journalist, Jordan Sanders…

As an old saying goes, one inning can be the difference. For the Millikan Rams on a warm, breezy afternoon at home, that was the case against the Compton Tarbabes.  The Rams original plan was to have Matt Clampitt go on the hill, but due to a ‘family matter’, he was unable to pitch, so Millikan head coach Scott Glasser named Jimmy Norman the starter.

Norman, who is coming off his last start which only lasted 3.1 innings, seemed determined to get some experience under his belt, and was spectacular in this game. Meanwhile on the hill for Compton, Jesse Frausto was hoping he could spark his team.

After a quick three up and three down from Norman in the top of the first, the Rams offense (who struggled against Cabrillo on Wednesday) woke up the bats with the first five batters reaching on base(two singles, two doubles and an error) which scored 4 runs.

The Tarbabes did not go so quietly as they hit Norman for six hits, three runs (2 earned).  They scored early in the second on an RBI groundout by Ibarra that scored Migel Hernandez, then after an error by the right fielder Adam Annella, Terrell Williams scored to make the game 5-2. That was as close as Compton got, because in the bottom of the 6th James Peale drove a bases loaded single to score Paul Slater and Avery Flores to make the score 8-3. Then after a Caulin Anderson infield single, Dylan Sadler grounded-out into a double play, but lucky for him it was no outs and scored Jordan Ybarra from third to make it 9-3. After 6 innings of work, south-paw pitcher Tyler Erickson came into relief of Norman for the final inning and struck out all 3 batters he faced to end the game.

Compton head coach Bryan Reed said of his team after the disappointing first inning, “they played great defense after that shaky start. We were hoping to stop them after the first 3 runs, but things got out of hand. I couldn’t be more proud of my boys for not giving up and showing the dedication for Compton baseball.”  With Compton out of the playoff race, I asked about the boys coming up next year and his response was, “That’s a big question mark that I cant’ touch right now. This is one of our fewest close games this year, but whatever lies ahead, hopefully the desire, talent and dedication for baseball will rise in the off-season workouts.”

 I also spoke with Millikan head coach Scott Glasser on Jimmy Norman’s performance and he seemed proud of his future starter.  “We got a lot out of Jimmy tonight, and he was great. He threw a lot of strikes and was did keep a competitive mindset.”

On James Peale’s performance, which really brightened his day, he said, “he was coming off a skid, re-adjusted and paid off by hitting the ball hard as he could.”

James Peale, who went 3-for-4 with four RBI, including a bases loaded two-run single along with an RBI single and a sac fly, said, “it felt good to get back on track. I wanted to hit it as hard as possible and I got it.”