Starter Luke Bucon in action against visiting
Mt. Carmel in the Bully's East Tournament.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
Junior righthander Luke Bucon spun five and a third innings of two-hit ball March 15, but the Vikings couldn't hold on in relief and went down 2-1 at the hands of visiting Mt. Carmel in the Bully's East Tournament.
Bucon, throwing shutout ball in his first varsity outing, faced only 19 batters, only three over the minimum, in striking out two and walking only two. His pitch count was 53, breaking down to just about 10 pitches for each of his five full innings.
The Sun Devils (1-2), on a day with a bit of fog on the coast keeping temperatures cool on a sunny day, weren't taking a lot of pitches, anyway. In the first inning, Tyler Miller, Nick Romano, and Samuel Cope, in the top three slots in the order, were first-pitch hitters. The bearded Bucon put down Mt. Carmel in order in the second and fourth.
La Jolla took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when second baseman Sean Hofmann, hitting in the ninth slot, smacked a single to left and moved to third on Brett Volger's hit through the vacated right side of the infield. After Tim Holdgrafer flied out to right and Alex Eliopulos popped to Sun Devil shortstop Adam Schaffroth, rangy Noah Strohl hit a grounder that the shortstop flubbed. Hofmann scored, with Volger taking third. The rally died on a groundout to second by Thomas Zlatic.
Bucon protected that lead until LJHS coach Gary Frank watched him hit the first batter up in the top of the sixth, Schaffroth's replacement, Jacob Benson, hitting at the bottom of the order, then walk Miller on a full count. Frank had obviously seen enough, because he switched Bucon with James Whelan in left field. Whelan, rearing back, served up a double play ball on his first pitch to quell the threat.
Shortstop Brett Volger, hitting in the leadoff spot,
takes a healthy cut. (Photo by Ed Piper)
Things didn't go as well for La Jolla the next inning. Volger came in in relief of Whelan after he walked Cope, the leadoff batter. Volger gave up a single to DH Carter Couch, a sacrifice to Justin Valdez moving the runners to second and third, and a swinging bunt to pinch-hitter Jordan Jacobson that brought Cope in to tie the game, 1-1. The throw came to the plate, but it was too late.
Ahead of the next batter, Brody Prows, with a 1-2 count, Brett served up a curveball in the middle of the zone that the Mt. Carmel rightfielder drilled to left, bringing in Couch with the go-ahead run. The reliever retired Kory Fox on a fly to right and struck out Benson swinging to end the inning. But the damage was done.
The Vikings put two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh, both on walks by Mt Carmel reliever Jared Mallari. But Tim Holdgrafer took off running for second before Mallari threw the next pitch. Mallari turned, finding Holdgrafer in no-man's-land. The centerfielder got tagged out in the ensuing rundown. He nearly made it back to first under Jack Melton's tag. Then Eliopulos, getting aboard after the rundown, died at first when Strohl flied out to left.
La Jolla (2-1), with further games in the Bully's tourney March 18 at Santana and March 20 at home versus Mira Mesa, saw their bats quieted considerably from the first two games of the season. Besides Volger's and Hofmann's hits, Eliopulos had a single in the fifth off tiring Sun Devils starter Jack Melton. Whelan banged a hit a frame earlier. Weston Clark, playing in right field, greeted Mallari coming in in relief of Melton in the sixth with a single as the first batter up.
A little bit of a gruesome note is that James Whelan, sliding into first to try to beat shortstop Benson's throw on his groundball in the bottom of the sixth, dislocated the pinky finger on his glove hand. Assistant coach Jake Grosz popped it right back into place in the dugout. Whelan went back out to pitch again in the top of the seventh, before being removed by Frank after walking his first batter on five pitches.
Whelan said he had never had a dislocated finger before. He said it felt "weird", that it didn't hurt when Grosz popped it back into place because it was "numb". Grosz had him keep moving the finger to keep it loose, then he had him try on his glove to see how it felt. James told Jake it felt fine, so he took the mound after Sean Hofmann's at-bat ended the Vikings' half of the inning.
A little bit of a gruesome note is that James Whelan, sliding into first to try to beat shortstop Benson's throw on his groundball in the bottom of the sixth, dislocated the pinky finger on his glove hand. Assistant coach Jake Grosz popped it right back into place in the dugout. Whelan went back out to pitch again in the top of the seventh, before being removed by Frank after walking his first batter on five pitches.
Whelan said he had never had a dislocated finger before. He said it felt "weird", that it didn't hurt when Grosz popped it back into place because it was "numb". Grosz had him keep moving the finger to keep it loose, then he had him try on his glove to see how it felt. James told Jake it felt fine, so he took the mound after Sean Hofmann's at-bat ended the Vikings' half of the inning.
Copyright 2014 Ed Piper
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