For Long Beach PONY baseball, everything seems to be working perfectly.

Yesterday in the first of two semifinal games at the Sectional Tournament, Long Beach handled Lynwood, 17-0, running their two-game total score to 38-0.  It was also the second-straight mercy rule game for the defending World Champions.

Starting pitcher Jeremiah Gordon set the tone by working around an error and striking out the side in the first inning.  He then proceeded to sit down six of the twelve batters he faced while giving up just two hits.

“Yeah, I was in the zone,” said Gordon, who worked his fastball and curve to near perfection.  “I know those guys behind me are making the plays, so I really don’t care about strikeouts… we’ve got some confidence, and that’s what baseball is all about.  If you’re not confident, you’re not going to win many games.”

At the plate, Long Beach mashed 13 hits, 2 home runs (Jonathan Pasillas, Jordan Ybarra) and six extra base hits. That confidence was on display as they scored 16 of their 17 runs with two outs.

“We’re swinging the bat extremely well right now,” said coach Ken Jakemer.  “Even at the end of the game we were staying patient and not swinging at bad pitches… two outs, two strikes, it doesn’t matter.  If they can see it they believe they can hit it.”

The top of the order did most of the damage as leadoff hitter Pasillas had two hits and four RBI.  Behind him, Cody Heath added two hits and four RBI of his own.

After Gordon was lifted, Isaac Contreras came in and struck out four, giving up just one hit.  But he wasn’t the only player to come off the bench and contribute.  Jakemer pulled a hocky-esque line change and brought in six players for the fourth and fifth inning.  Players like Nick Byers, Kyle Salaya and Yusef Davis took advantage of the playing time and posted seven runs.

“It’s not like there are nine field players and six bench players,” said Jakemer.  “We’re so deep, we really don’t lose anything when we put a guy in… we’re really developing into a unit.

The win sets up the Championship Game everyone has been waiting for, as Heartwell will try to slow Long Beach down at 5:30pm at Whaley Park.