Baseball:
Heading into the final week of the regular season, Ayala and Bonita were tied atop the Palomares League standings and they both needed two-game sweeps over Glendora and Colony, respectively, to set up a Friday showdown to determine the No. 1 seed out of the Palomares League.
Because the Bulldogs and Bearcats are both CIF-SS Division 1 programs, and they would finish league play 9-1, and with both winning one against the other, a playoff game would take place Friday with the winner almost certainly guaranteed a first-round home game next week.
But all that depends on both programs sweeping their final week opponents, and neither is looking past the Tartans and Titans.
Ayala would hammer Glendora, 11-2, on Tuesday, and Bonita handled Colony, 6-3, as both played at home.
In the Ayala-GHS game, Evan Ellis was touched up for four runs on five hits over two-plus innings.
He walked two and struck out four AHS batters.
Ayala’s Ethan Nunez sure made the most of his last at-bat at home.
The Bulldogs senior hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth to extend the lead to 11-1.
Nunez went 2-for-2, walked, scored twice and had the four RBIs.
Marcus Galvan walked twice, singled and hit a solo HR.
Aidan Erlandsen walked, singled, had an RBI and scored two runs.
Andrew Torres walked, singled, scored and had one RBI.
Jake Lemoine walked, singled and had an RBI.
Matt Yarc went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Thomas Estepa singled and had an RBI.
Anthony Hernandez singled and scored.
Caleb Trugman walked twice and scored.
Enrique Ybanez tripled for the Bulldogs.
Jeremy Byers went five innings and allowed one run on four hits.
He walked three and fanned four GHS batters.
Aiden Nunez got the last six outs, allowing an unearned run on one hit and striking out two.
Caleb Nguyen walked, singled and scored.
Ethan Tapia walked, singled and scored.
Michael Moses doubled for GHS.
I asked Ayala senior Ethan Nunez to talk about the Palomares League race, the confidence they got from beating Bonita after losing late in a game-one (a few weeks back), and what the Bulldogs outlook is going forward.
Said Ethan Nunez: “When we gave up that lead against Bonita in the seventh and lost, it really hurt and we wanted another shot at them. They’ve been our rival since I’ve been at Ayala. When Matt (Yarc) came out on that Saturday morning and we beat them, it felt great. We’re not looking past Glendora on Thursday, but if we have to play Bonita another time, we’ll definitely be ready for that. To hit a grand slam in my final at-bat at home (in the regular season) is pretty incredible. I didn’t even think about it until you brought it up. I’m really proud of all of my fellow seniors, because we worked together and tried to lead by example. We’re playing good baseball right now and we like our chances against anyone we face.”
Box Score:
G: 0-1-0-0-0-0-1-(2)
A: 0-0-4-0-7-0-X-(11)
Win: Jeremy Byers
Loss: Evan Ellis
HR: Marcus Galvan (A), Ethan Nunez (A)
3B: Enrique Ybanez (A)
2B: Michael Moses (G)
Palomares League Scores:
Bonita 6, Colony 3
Alta Loma 4, Claremont 2
Ayala 11, Glendora 2
Palomares League Standings:
Bonita (16-4, 8-1)
Ayala (14-7, 8-1)
Glendora (11-10, 5-4)
Colony (8-16-1, 3-6)
Alta Loma (8-11-1, 2-7)
Claremont (9-16, 1-8)
Thursday’s Schedule:
Claremont at Alta Loma
Bonita at Colony
Ayala at Glendora
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