The Griffins, who will win the season series against the Sailors, are now 3-7 in league play and 10-11 overall.
Sometimes stirring the pot is just what you need to get a different taste of things.
Los Alamitos Baseball Coach Aaron Moore has been trying to do that throughout his squad’s recent six-game Sunset League losing streak, changing the batting order, putting players in different positions, anything to get things going in the right direction.
On Wednesday, April 28 Moore and assistant coaches Greg Harris and Cory Burton got the right ingredients put together to snap the losing skid, using five pitchers and a pair of three-run innings to hold off Newport Harbor, 6-4.
The Griffins, who will win the season series against the Sailors, are now 3-7 in league play and 10-11 overall. Newport Harbor falls to 4-6 and 14-7.
With Moore having to sit out of the contest because of being ejected from the previous game, Harris said he was proud of the way the squad simply took care of business.
“We went about things very professionally,” Harris said after the 2:29 affair.
“Our effort in the game was tremendous because we were treating this like a playoff game—a loss and we were finished,” Harris said.
Harris said the Griffins left too many runners on base and couldn’t get the key hit at times.
Such was the case in the first inning as both Brad Hartong and Frankie Padulo drew walks off Sailor pitcher Chase Kapana. An error on a pickoff try helped move the duo into scoring position … where they would remain as the next three players were retired.
Steve Guerin broke the tie with a second-inning solo homer off starting pitcher Brandon Reynolds for the only Newport lead of the contest.
Los Alamitos’ three-run third opened with a leadoff single by Jared Owen, who went to third on a Hartong double.
Padulo’s sac fly tied the game at one. Joey Wright drew a walk to put runners at the corners.
With two out, Kyle Ferramola reached on a second baseman’s error, one of three Sailor miscues on the afternoon, plating both Hartong and Wright for a 3-1 lead.
Ferramola was stranded as the next hitter was retired.
Newport picked up single runs in the fourth and fifth innings off relievers Jared Cortez and Greg Cole to tie the game, but both pitchers got out of jams to prevent further damage.
The Griffins retook the lead with another three-run frame in the fifth. Singles by both Hartong and Padulo got things going. Nick Vilter’s RBI-single broke the tie.
A walk to Ferramola loaded the bases and ended the day for Kapana.
Reliever Ryan Albert was greeted as Michael Farris was safe on a fielder’s choice, which forced out Ferramola and brought home another run for a 6-3 lead.
Newport would not go quietly in the final two innings.
The Sailors scored another run in the sixth to cut the lead to two and used three walks by Kyle Ferramola to load the bases with no one out in the seventh.
The Washington-signee got out of the sticky situation with a strikeout of Matt Carpenter and then got Jacob McCann to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to record the save.
The success against the Sailors continued Friday with Los Alamitos taking the three-game sweep of Newport with a 2-1 win on the Sailors’ homefield.
Newport scored its lone run in the second off Griffin pitcher John Heacock but Los Al came back with a pair of runs in the fourth and made them stick behind a good job on the hill from the senior pitcher.
Heacock pitched a complete game, scattering eight hits while striking out nine and hitting three batters.
The Griffins, now 11-11 overall and 4-7 in league play, had just six hits. Moises Montes led the way with two hits. Farris, Patrick Ivison, Vilter and Wright had one hit each in the win.
