The City College baseball team won in dramatic fashion on March 15, beating Grossmont by a score of 5-4 at Morley Field. Hector Lorenzana ended the back-and-forth contest with a game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded.
Starting pitcher Keegan Yuhl went six solid innings for the Knights, working his way out of a couple early jams to yield just 3 runs while striking out 4.
“It’s kind of how I’ve always been,” Yuhl said of his struggles early in the game. “I started to find my zone in the fourth (inning).”
David Johnson and Mitch Hamels pitched well in relief, with Hamels getting the win.
Lorenzana ended the game by swatting a high line drive to right field against Grossmont relief pitcher Edward Trovato. The ball was caught, but pinch runner Donnie Frank easily tagged up from third base to score the game-winning run.
“(I was thinking) hit it into the outfield,” said Lorenzana. “I knew they were trying to get me to hit it on the ground.”
The Knights ran into some trouble in the eighth inning after Grossmont tied the game and had the go-ahead run on third base with nobody out. Knights head coach Chris Brown brought the infield in to try and get the runner out at home plate in the event of a groundball.
Hamels induced a groundball to the shortstop, Lorenzana, who threw out the runner at home plate. Knights’ catcher Kevin Garcia, who played a nice game defensively, almost turned it into a double play with a quick throw to first base after tagging out the lead runner.
Hamels ended the eighth-inning threat with a strikeout and shut the door on the Grossmont offense with a double-play ball in the ninth inning.
The Knights’ ninth-inning rally started with a single from Andres Enriquez, followed by an intentional walk to center fielder Antonio Carrillo.
Carrillo, who was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2009, had three hits on the day and has been a clutch performer for the Knights this season.
Gilbert Guardado was awarded first base on a catcher’s interference call, which loaded the bases for Lorenzana, who came through with his third RBI on the day to go along with three base hits.
The win brings the Knights’ record to 5-3 in conference play, putting them in third place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference. They are still well within striking distance of first-place Palomar and second-place Mesa.
Lorenzana commented that the Knights started the season slowly, losing three out of four games, but feels that the team is starting to jell.
“We didn’t have the chemistry we have now,” said Lorenzana. “It’s a whole other team.”
