Huskies Playoff Run Ends in Fullerton

by Cerwin D Haynes

After garnering the attention of all of California last week with their upset series win over top-seed Palomar College, #24-seed East LA College Baseball rode all sorts of good vibes and confidence into Fullerton College today for the Super Regionals, a three-way double-elimination round. The Huskies would face both #13 Fullerton and #17 LA Valley for the right to move on the Regional Finals, and rightfully believed they had as good a chance as anyone to advance further into the 3C2A Playoffs.

But while their confidence didn't waver, their defense unfortunately did. And that opened too many opportunities for both LAVC and Fullerton's offenses to capitalize.

Game 1: ELAC vs LA Valley College

Facing fellow LACCD school LA Valley, the Pack donned their road greys as the lower seed. South Coast Conference Tri-Pitcher of the Year Paco Dominguez would toe the mound for the Huskies.

East's problems began early and often:

• In the bottom of the first, Valley CF Royce Clayton Jr led off with a double to right-center off Huskies' P Paco Dominguez. The next batter, DH Brandon Cuervo, laid down a tough bunt to the third base side of the infield that Dominguez had to field. The pitcher fired the ball to first but the throw was off-line. Cuervo was safe at first while Clayton advanced to third. RF Tyler Olivas was up next, and he slapped a ground ball deep to 3B Emilio Campos who struggled to field the ball cleanly if only for a split second. His throw to first was also off the mark, getting past 1B Daniel Vierra. Clayton scored while Cuervo and Olivas took third and second, respectively. Cuervo would then score on a sac-fly to right by C Bobby Velasco, and Olivas tried to tag from second on the relay from RF Julian Eskridge to C Michael Easter covering home. Easter alertly fired to third, and Campos' tag beat Olivas for the unconventional double-play.
• The bottom of the second is where disaster unfortunately found the road Green. Dominguez had shown flashes of getting ahead in the count, but not being able to put away batters with two strikes became problematic for the Bell HS product. LF Elvis Park led off with a single to right, and 2B Luis Torres,  flashing bunt, followed by laying down another tought bunt to the third base side of the mound. Again, Dominguez was forced to field, and again, his throw to first was off line, giving the Monarchs first and second with no one out. Sensing some sort of fielding vunerability in the Huskies' ace, SS Tino Valdez mirrored Torres by again bunting to the third base side. Except this bunt crawled up the third base line and Paco had no play as Valdez had an infield single. Bases loaded with Monarchs, no outs - worst place to be for a pitcher and his defense.
  • Valley then made ELAC pay: back-to-back RBI singles by Clayton Jr and Cuervo drove in two, and with the bases still loaded, Olivas smacked a hard triple down the right-field line to drive in three. In less that two full innings, East LA trailed Valley 8-0.

ELAC would ultimately go on to lose Game 1 by the score of 16-1.

Game 2: ELAC vs Fullerton College

The Huskies only had a little over an hour to refocus as they had to play Game 2 against the host Hornets in a must-win situation. Head coach Alec Adame handed the ball to All-SCC pitcher Robert Banuelos.

ELAC had their chances early offensively: they had two runners on base in three out of the first four innings, but couldn't get that one hit with a runner in scoring position. Meanwhile, Banuelos kept Fullerton off the scoreboard for the first three innings. He ran into trouble in the fourth when he began to struggle with his control: with one out, 1B Tank Espalin singled up the middle, then advanced later on a wild pitch. Banuelos induced CF Brandon Beeson intoa groundout to second. While it moved Espalin to third, Banuelos was only one out away from escaping the inning unscathed. Instead he plunked DH Diego Franklin, then issued back-to-back walks to RF Isaiah Marquez and 2B Jared Benash, the latter forcing in the game's first run. Banuelos would recover by retiring SS Jimmy Blumberg on a fly out to center.

After a scoreless fifth inning for both teams, the Huskies finally found some offensive mojo in the top of the sixth. ELAC loaded the bases on a single (DH Beno Olmeda), HBP (LF Alex Mendez) and a walk (RF Julian Eskridge) with no outs. Campos took to the plate next, and slapped a deep bouncer to third. This time, is was the Huskies' opponent who's throw to first sailed wide: Mendez and Olmeda scored to give ELAC a 2-1 lead (Campos advanced to thrid). Nicholad Bobadilla was up next, and hit a fly ball to center that was caught, but deep enough to allow Eskridge to tag home from third for the 3-1 lead. Fullerton then made a pitching change, with Vincent Segovia coming in to relieve starter Freddy Castaneda. He would retired SS Richard Ponce on a fly out to center, but it was Daniel Vierra up next, and he slashed a single to left to drive in Campos from second. Huskies would take a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth, and the ELAC faithful that made the trip down from Monterey began to envision their boys playing onto Friday.

Regrettably for the Huskies, momentum giveth, and momentum taketh away. Fullerton would score multiple runs in each of the next three innings to take an 8-4 lead.

It started in the home half of the sixth, where Banuelos's control - and his defense - betrayed him. Allowing a leadoff walk and then a single, Banuelos - facing Benash - tried to pickoff Franklin at second, a sound strategy given Banuelos picked off a runner at second last week at Palomar. Except this time, the throw was wide of the covering fielder and sailed into center field. CF Nicholas Bobadilla tracked down the ball but had trouble picking it up, and both Franklin and Isaiah Marquez scored to cut East LA's lead to 4-3. Coach Adame came out of the dugout and called David Morales (usually a starter) in from the bullpen to relieve Banuelos while gathering his fielders to refocus their efforts. Morales ultimately got the Huskies out of the inning without further damage, but the three-run cushion the Huskies built had all but evaporated.

The Huskies offense went dry just as the Hornets offense continued to heat up. After a scoreless top of the seventh, Morales ran into trouble. A single, triple, single, single, walk and single yielded three runs and the lead to the home team, 6-4. ELAC went scoreless in the top of the eighth, and Fullerton tacked on two more runs via a walk and two doubles off Morales for an 8-4 lead.

East LA tried to mount a rally to save their season in the top of the ninth. With runners on first and second with two out, Campos struck out swinging.

Another chapter of ELAC Baseball closed a bit sooner than hoped, but not before enjoying a remarkable season and making history that will forever be remembered in the annals of California JUCO baseball.

HUSKY BITS

• 1B Daniel Vierra had himself an afternoon. He was one of only four Huskies to record a base hit in Game 1, and he went 2-2 in Game 2 with three walks and an RBI.
• In Game 2, ELAC had plenty of chances to push more runs accross, evidenced by stranding 12 runners on base.
• ELAC had five errors in Game 1. Only two in Game 2.
• East LA pitchers allowed a combined opponents' BA of .403 for the two games.
• In Game 1, Julian Hernandez relieved Dominguez. He gave up six hits and four walks in 4 IP, but only allowed two runs (one earned).
• Eduardo Sanchez threw a scoreless seventh inning in Game 1.
• In Game 2, Beno Olmeda went 2-3 with a walk and a run scored.

UP NEXT:

Coach Adame and his staff will hit the roads to find the next batch of future Huskies. They'll have some pretty significant achievements to point to when they go to meet recruits.

SEE YA IN '24

#GOHUSKIES