The East Union Lancers completed their Valley Oak League opening series Friday at Agostini Field, splitting a doubleheader against Central Catholic, winning 10-3 in Game 1 and dropping Game 2, 10-6. The series edge goes to the Raiders, who won the opener Wednesday.
The Lancers (1-2 VOL, 7-6 overall) raced out to a 7-0 lead in Game 1 behind big performances at the plate from Brayden Camara and Blake Mount. The left side of the Lancers defense contributed two hits, two runs batted in, and both scored twice in the game. East Union stole seven bases in the game, putting constant pressure on Raider pitching.
Central Catholic (5-3, 8-4) hitters were stifled in Game 1 by Mount, who pitched a complete game and allowed just three earned runs while striking out nine to get the Lancers’ their first league win on the season.
“We took care of business in game 1,” East Union coach Dan Bauer said. “We like to run and run and run some more, and I thought we did a really good job of putting pressure on them.”
Game 2 saw East Union pick right up where they left off on the basepaths and the scoreboard. The Lancers stole five bases in the first inning off of Central Catholic pitcher Joe Farinha en route to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning.
A strong outing early from sophomore pitcher Joe Alvarez held Raider batters largely in check early on, scattering three hits and allowing just one earned run through four innings, which saw the Lancers up 6-2 going into the fifth.
Central Catholic hitters would come alive in the fifth however, scoring six runs on five hits and two walks in the inning. Five consecutive batters reached on base hits, but the key at-bat came from Farinha, who put the Raiders ahead with a bases-loaded double to right-center field that cleared the bases and put Central Catholic up, 7-6.
“Their guy pitched extremely well early on, but we had some good conversations going into the fifth inning, and I thought our guys really locked in and took some good at bats that proved to be the difference for us,” Central Catholic coach Danny Ayala said.
Central Catholic relievers Caine Walker and AJ Miligi held Lancer hitters to just two hits over the final four innings to secure the split on the day and the overall series win for the Raiders.
“We had a ton of momentum going into Game 2,” Bauer said. “It felt like we kind of took our foot off the gas and got complacent. Our guys know if we’re going to win games in this league, we can’t do that.”
Jackson Fay led the Lancers offensively in Game 2, going 3-for-4 at the plate with one run scored. Alvarez, Peyton Heath, and Kirk Simoni also contributed RBI base hits to help East Union’s cause.
For the Lancers, a 1-2 start in league isn’t what they had drawn up, but there is plenty of time to make up ground in a league where everyone has at least two losses already.
“We talked about it after the game that 15 games left in an extremely tough league,” Bauer said. “We’ve got Patterson on Monday and will get some guys back from injury which will help us a ton. We’ll just take it one game at a time.”
