Dominguez Leads Huskies to Series Win over Long Beach
by Stephen Morales
@grecomeco23
Photos by Morales and Valerie Mulenburg
In one of the most important games of the season, with so much riding on the line, ELAC Huskies Baseball Head Coach Alec Adame was certain of one thing. He would be handing the ball to his ace Francisco "Paco" Dominguez. As an ace, it was Paco's job to go and set the tone and lead his team to a victory.
And on a day when the ace did not have his A+ stuff, he had just enough in throwing a complete game in the Huskies 10-6 win over the visiting Long Beach City College Vikings.
Dominguez threw 120 plus pitches on the day, and while he only struck out 4 Vikings, he also only allowed one walk and nine hits over the nine innings.
He did what an ace is supposed to do. Hold the other team at bay and let your own batters get to work
Adame was high in the praise of his ace.
"Paco didn't have his good stuff that he normally does. He was missing with his FB location at times. He was able to keep us in the entire ballgame because he only walked 1 batter! Paco made great pitches when we really needed it, and our defense complimented that in timely situations."
The win didn't just give the Huskies a big win. It gave them a crucial series win against the Vikings, which gives them the tiebreaker should it be needed down the road. The Huskies improved to 15-19 overall and 12-6 in conference, good enough for 3rd place at the moment.
"We knew what we had to do to keep our playoff hopes alive." Adame said. "Everyone played playoff baseball today."
After Dominguez got a quick 1-2-3 inning to start the game, the Huskies went to work to help the ace out. In the bottom of the first, three straight singles from Beno Olmeda, Ruben Hernandez and Alex Mendez scored Richard Ponce, Alex Solis and Olmeda to stake the Huskies to a 3-0 lead before the chairs were warm.
"In the 1st Inning, their pitcher fell behind, and we were able to sacrifice bunt our base runners into scoring position, and we were able to execute offensively with less than 2 Outs! That gave us an opportunity to set the tempo early in the game!" said a smiling Adame.
The Vikings proved that they weren't going to go away quietly. They scored single runs in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th to tie the game at 3.
Thus, began the old idea of baseball as a chess match. One team makes a move, and the other has to respond.
In the 5th, Olmeda scored again on an RBI ground out from Mendez. Daniel Vierra would follow with a base hit to score Hernandez and the Huskies lead 5 to 3.
Back came the Vikings again, scoring two runs in the 6th to tie the game at 5. The Huskies would respond in the bottom of the inning on a booming double from Hernandez to score Michael Easter and take a 6-5 lead.
"LBCC fought hard all game! They were able to chip away, and tie the score multiple times in the game, but our offense answered the bell today hitting the ball hard 17 times!" added Adame.
The Vikings never went away, but the Huskies defense was up to the task, turning two double plays on the afternoon, all of which halting Long Beach rallies right in their tracks.
In the 7th inning, Vierra scored again on a sacrifice fly by Matthew McIntire. The Vikings would respond again scoring a run in the 8th and the game was 7-6 Huskies going to the bottom of the 8th.
By this time, Dominguez had crossed 110 pitches. With that in mind, the Huskies knew they needed to get more insurance runs to help the ace. That's just what they did in the 8th inning.
With the bases loaded and no outs the Vikings brought the infield in. Hernandez lined a grounder past the drawn in infield to score Easter and Olmeda. Hernandez came around to score on a double by Vierra to finish the scoring.
"Our insurance runs in the 8th inning was huge for us! Those insurance runs gave Paco a cushion to throw another complete game, and secure that series win against LBCC! That game had a playoff atmosphere as it went back and forth, and our guys came to play!" Adame finished.
Vierra and Hernandez finished with 3 hits each while Easter and Olmeda finished with 2 hits each. Hernandez knocked in 3 runs while Mendez and Olmeda each had 2 RBIs. Olmeda scored three runs while Easter and Hernandez each scored twice.
He didn't have his A+ plus stuff but Dominguez battled his way through the game, finishing the 9th inning with a double play and strikeout to put the exclamation point on the game.
He did what an ace does, pitched his heart out and gave his team a chance to win the game.
Up next, the Huskies face the Mounties of Mt. San Antonio College in a key 3 game set. The Huskies will play at Mt. Sac Tuesday at 6pm and Saturday at noon. They will host the Mounties Thursday at 230pm.
"We need to probably go 5-1 in the last six, to finish 20-20" Adame said.
If the Huskies play the way they did in the last two games against Long Beach, that mark will be well within reach.
