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| Luke Roberts (03) slides into third base on a passed ball as the catcher's throw goes into left field and the LJCDS third baseman goes sprawling. Roberts had gotten aboard on a single in the fourth inning. (Photo by Ed Piper) |
Coach Jake Grosz's American Legion team was loose, rocking and rolling as they scored seven runs in the first two innings to capture a 13-6 win over visiting La Jolla Country Day and third place in the upcoming District 22 playoffs in their last game of the regular season Wed., July 10.
"They've grown (in the intangibles)," Grosz, a former LJHS assistant coach, said during the game as the Vikings piled up more runs. "Like when (Jake) Klimkiewicz took third base (in the bottom of the fourth). He noticed that the third baseman was away from the bag, so he took advantage."
"Increasing baseball IQ" was one of the coach's stated goals for the American Legion schedule, which began in mid-June. Playoffs start Thurs., July 18.
Meanwhile, La Jolla (6-3) was adding six more runs in the fourth, on top of three in the first and four in the second, as they batted around.
In the first four explosive innings, "Klim" had two singles and a triple, scoring three times. Johnny Meyerott also had two singles and a triple. The Vikings had so many hits, "Meyo" was listing his for a teammate in the dugout.
Third baseman Cooper McNally had a triple and single and scored twice.
Basically, all hell broke loose as the Vikings--carrying the name of a Navy fighting plane designed to hunt down enemy submarines during the Cold War with the USSR--used their aluminum bats to good purpose.
Left-hander Hobie Hood pitched the first three innings for the Vikings, limiting LJCDS' offense to the single run. Owen McNally, another lefty, took over on the mound in the top of the fourth.
Coach John Edman's Skyhawks (6-2) actually finished with a higher winning percentage than the Vikings. But the Vikings go into the playoffs by virtue of their winning the head-to-head matchup.
Edman's son Tommy, a former LJCDS All-CIF player under his dad, debuted last month with the St.. Louis Cardinals and is now their leadoff hitter and regular third baseman.
He hit a home run to start the Cardinals-Padres game June 29 at Petco Park in which Padres Manny Machado and Franmil Reyes each hit a pair of homers, and San Diego won 12-2 on Tony Gwynn/Trevor Hoffman Jersey Night.
La Jolla assistant coach Johnny Agbulos, as well as this reporter, were present at that game. Rookie phenom Fernando Tatis also had a home run for the Padres.
Each team, loosely affiliated with their respective high school teams, have been using younger players to afford them playing time and more reps. In Wednesday's regular-season finale to compete for the third seed for the Navy Division in the playoffs, that meant a succession of Skyhawks pitchers got pounded.
In the bottom of the first with one out, Klimkiewicz singled and scored on McNally's triple on an 0-2 count. Meyerott followed with his own triple to plate Cooper. Jack Liebesman hit a sacrifice fly, bringing Meyerott in. The score was 3-0.
After the visitors scored one run in the top of the second, the Vikings went back to work on offense. With one out, Calvin Hyytinen singled and stole second base. Noah Brown, batting in the leadoff slot, reached base on an error in left field. Klimkiewicz hit his second single in two innings.
Cooper singled and stole second. Meyerott singled. In all, four runs scored in the innings, boosting the hosts' lead to 7-1 after two innings.
After a one-two-three third, in the bottom of the fourth two walks and five hits spelled prosperity for the Vikings and disaster for La Jolla Country Day, as the senior Edman looked on from the third base dugout.
Roberts singled to lead off the inning. "Klim" with a triple, Meyerott singling, and Liebesman with another three-bagger all had base knocks in the six-run frame. Grosz's squad led, 13-2.
The Vikings, the third place team in the Navy Division, would seem a likely opponent for Patrick Henry, which leads the Marine Division with an 8-1 record, in next Thursday's opening playoff game.
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