Another Tenth Inning Push Gives Cypress a Win
Smith had 3 RBI Friday afternoon. |
March 14, 2008
Final Stats
Cypress, Calif. - Cypress was tangled up in three straight games that have finished in a one run margin. Cypress’s dramatic streak continued but luckily ended in Cypress’s favor this time in an 11-10 tenth inning win over Long Beach City. Freshman third baseman Erik Hempe Erik Hempe was the highlight this time around driving in the winning run with a walk-off single.
Long Beach attacked early with a four run first inning putting Cypress behind by a grand slam. The Vikings added another in the top of the third for a commanding 5-0 lead. Cypress wiped away the lead quickly in the bottom of the third. Sophomore second baseman Armando Gallardo was hit by a pitch followed by a single from sophomore shortstop Tyler Marmion. Freshman catcher Jonathan Hurst loaded the bases with another single. Sophomore right fielder Brian Burke drove in the first Cypress runs with a double scoring Gallardo and Marmion. With Hurst on third, sophomore third baseman Eddie Agredano hit a sacrifice fly to left for Hurst to tag up and score. Sophomore designated hitter AJ Smith was up next and hit his first homerun of the season for two more Charger runs tying the game at five.
Cypress took their first lead of the game in the fourth after shutting down the Viking offense and then scoring two. Sophomore center fielder Brandon Rohr led off with a walk and Gallardo doubled for two runners in scoring position. Marmion took advantage with a two RBI single for the 7-5 lead. The lead would not last long as Long Beach matched with two runs in the fifth knotting it up again at seven.
The Vikings then kept their scoring going with three in the sixth to take the three run lead but Cypress would continue the pattern of the day matching with three runs of their own. Freshman second baseman Brad Woodend walked and freshman left fielder Justin McGuire came off the bench for his specialty with a clutch homerun, his fifth this season cutting the Long Beach lead to one. Marmion wiped away the lead with a back-to-back homerun tying the game at ten.
Freshman pitcher Matt Wolfrom came in to pitch in the top of the sixth pitching the next 4.1 innings effectively shutting down the Long Beach offense. The Cypress offense was stalled as well as the ten run tie held through the ninth inning forcing a tenth. The Vikings loaded the bases in the top of the tenth but Wolfrom stranded all three with a strikeout to hold the tie. Cypress took advantage in the bottom of the tenth. Hurst led off with a walk and was replaced by freshman Parker Berberet to run. Burke laid down a sacrifice bunt moving Berberet to second. With one out down, Hempe came through on his second at-bat with his walk-off RBI single scoring Berberet and ending the game in Cypress’s favor. Wolfrom earned the win improving to 3-2 allowing three hits and no runs in 4.1 innings while striking out three.
Cypress improves to 18-6 and heads on the road next for their annual trip north. They start with Tuesday action against Cuesta at Cuesta at 2:00 pm.
