Millikan’s Josh Frye and Lakewood’s Jeff Yamaguchi put on a pitching clinic yesterday in the Moore League opener at Lakewood High. Against two hard hitting lineups, the two seniors remained calm and in control until the very end when the Lancers emerged victorious, 3-0, over the Rams.
Frye only gave up one earned run in six innings of work and allowed five hits on 72 pitches while Yamaguchi went the distance giving up five hits and striking out five on just 67 pitches. It was Yamaguchi’s first complete game of the season. There were no extra base hits given up by either pitcher.
The Lancers gave him the lead in the bottom of the second when Anthony Razo led it off with a single. Tyler Leidholdt and Zach Alofaituli sacrificed the runner over and that brought up Jimmy Gosano. The junior second baseman sprayed the first pitch fastball to right field where Millikan’s Adam Annella made a diving effort. Annella got to the ball right as it met the ground and the umpire said he did not have control of the ball, so Razo came around to score to give Yamaguchi all he would need.
The Rams would have their opportunities early with four of their five hits coming in the first three innings. In fact Millikan put the leadoff man on in the first three innings, however, Lakewood freshman shortstop J.P. Crawford started three double plays in those frames. His two 6-4-3 double plays ended the first and third inning and he snagged a liner to double up Paul Slater at first in the second inning. The Rams would hit into another 6-4-3 in the top of the sixth.
After Millikan threatened in the third, Yamaguchi settled in. “I was trying to not do too much and just get ground ball outs… I kept getting more comfortable, more confident in my pitches,” said Yamaguchi, who threw first-pitch breaking ball strikes to all three hitters in the fourth inning. “Once I got the breaking ball over, I was okay.”
Okay is an understatement as Yamaguchi sat the Rams down in order from the fourth inning through the final out. The senior captain continued to get stronger as the game got longer as he threw just 20 balls outside of the strike zone and faced 22 batters, one over the minimum.
Just to put the cherry on top, Yamaguchi drove in a run in the bottom of the sixth as the Lancers scored two for insurance to end it, 3-0.
“You make four double plays in seven innings, that’s tough to overcome,” said Millikan head coach Scott Glasser. “Those guys are tough outs from top to bottom, and I think Frye did a great job… we missed our opportunities, and if we execute there with the score 1-1, who knows?”
Lakewood stays undefeated at 11-0 and are now 1-0 in the Moore League as they go to Blair Field on Friday (6:30) to play Wilson, who had the bye today. Millikan falls to 3-6 and 0-1 as they also will be at Blair on Friday to see Poly (3:30).