“It was nobody’s goal to break the streak,” said Poly coach Toby Hess of the Millikan Rams’ 42-inning run of perfect defense coming into Friday night’s game.  “We wanted to win.”  The Jackrabbits were good enough to put up four runs in the second inning, ending the streak at 43—but Millikan (7-0) instead proved they can win games offensively, as well, in an impressive 8-4 victory that gives them a three-game lead over the rest of the field for the league crown, with five games remaining.  Poly falls to 4-3, and a three-way tie for second place with Wilson and Lakewood, both of whom the ‘Rabbits have beaten.

In the top of the first, Poly’s Kevin Nanbara opened with a double, and reached third with just one out, as the Jackrabbits looked like they were going to get a surprising start—but Millikan’s Andrew Culver dug in and got a pop out, and a quick ground out.  Then in the bottom of the first, Millikan pounded Poly’s ace, Mario Gordon.  Brandon Sadler opened the inning by flying out, then Gordon walked Jon Singleton—a balk moved him to second.  Then Cody Hazel’s single put Singleton on third—Paul Slater’s fly out brought him home ahead of the throw to give Millikan the lead.

They gave themselves their margin of victory after singles from Matt Clampitt and Adam Annella juiced the bases—catcher Emmy Antoneras sent a shot to left field, where it bounced, and then trickled through the fielder’s legs, with enough speed that it rolled all the way to the wall before a Poly player could pick it up.  By the time the throw came in, Antoneras had chugged all the way around the bases, for an error inside-the-park grand slam.

With Millikan’s perfect record on defense, that seemed like all she wrote, but Poly answered back in a big way in the top of the second.  Tyler Maxwell led off by getting on base when the throw to first was high, then Culver walked Jeff Turley.  A wild pitch went by the catcher Antoneras, advancing the runners to second and third, and Maxwell scored off of Nikko Santos’ single.  Poly got three more runs that inning, but Culver dug in at the end, getting Henry Severson to ground out, and preserving a 5-4 lead.

Millikan bounced back quickly, with two runs in the bottom of the inning, and they tacked on another in the fifth.  Josh Frye finished the game for the Rams.  Frye, who started on Tuesday against Lakewood, came in for a few innings because Millikan coach Scott Glasser wants him to start getting ready to start a game, and then pitch in relief as he’ll be doing in the playoffs. 

After the game, Glasser expressed his happiness with his team’s hitting performance, one of their best this season, against one of the league’s best pitchers in Gordon.  “I think we proved we can win a lot of ways,” he said.

The Rams will try to keep rolling next Wednesday, when they face Wilson in the nightcap at Blair at 6:30pm.  Poly will host Jordan on their campus field, in an important clash for playoff positioning.  When asked about the silver lining of sitting in second after the loss to Millikan, Hess said, “It’s more of a safety net than a silver lining.”