LJ baseball 10, SDA 2 - CIF 1st round

Viking DH Kaden Wheat follows through on the

swing that brought three runners in and sent

him to third base on a triple in the bottom

of the fourth against SDA's Logan Kechter.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla rode a six-run fourth inning powered by Kaden Wheat's bases-clearing triple to beat visiting San Dieguito Academy, 10-2, Wed., June 9, and move to a second-round encounter with Olympian at home Fri., June 11 in the double elimination CIF Division 3 postseason.

Wheat, the designated hitter, also drove in the Vikings' initial run in the bottom of the first with an earlier triple to plate teammate Luke Roberts with two outs.

Lefty Owen McNally (7-3) went the whole distance, limiting the Mustangs--winners of a 5-2 play-in game against Brawley Tuesday--to five hits, striking out four and walking only two. He threw 98 pitches.

In the Vikings' explosive fourth, the two playoff teams tied 2-2, La Jolla loaded the bases with one out against SDA's second pitcher of the game, lefthander Jake Tabor. After righty Logan Kechter was inserted as another reliever, La Jolla second baseman Jake Klimkiewicz drove in a run with a single to give La Jolla a 3-2 advantage.

La Jolla's Ryan Lancaster (center, #15) bumps fists

as he comes in from playing centerfield

at the end of the top of the third inning.

Lancaster had a hit and stole two bases

in the Vikings' first-round win Wed.

Wheat, hitting clean-up, then clubbed his three-bagger to right-center, bringing all three baserunners around and posting La Jolla to a 6-2 lead.

The next batter, Ryan Lancaster, scored Kaden from third with a single to left.

Finally, after the swift Lancaster stole both second and third, the latter on a head-first slide, first baseman Beau Brown hit a grounder to Mustang shortstop Ian Hoslett. The shortstop, having a tough game, made one of his four errors on the playable grounder, allowing Ryan to score. La Jolla led, 8-2. The Vikings would never look back.

Lefty Owen McNally utilized an effective

curve and fastball, along with a changeup,

to control SDA's lineup on 98 pitches.

Kaden Wheat just gets into third on an RBI

triple in the bottom of the first to drive in

teammate Luke Roberts. That tied the score

at 1-1.