Baseball:
It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to realize that good pitching is the key to a deep playoff run.
And Zach Strickland was better than good on Thursday afternoon.
Strickland tossed a no-hitter in Maranatha’s 4-0 CIF-SS Division 2 first-round victory over Royal of Simi Valley.
Strickland issued two walks and struck out 17 batters.
He got nine separate Highlanders on strikes at least once, and the MHS junior fanned five Royal batters twice or more.
He needed 90 pitches to finish what he started and 60 went for strikes.
Caden Sramek got the loss after allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits over five innings.
Sramek issued three walks and struck out one MHS batter.
Strickland helped himself with an RBI triple in the fourth inning to give the Minutemen a 1-0 lead.
Eric Zdunek drove in a run on a sac fly.
AJ Beltre singled and scored.
Thomas Lieb walked and scored.
Josh Proctor singled and scored.
Up next: The Minutemen travel to Chino Hills on Tuesday to battle Ayala.
The Bulldogs (13-11-1) have won seven consecutive games after Tuesday’s 6-1 victory at La Serna.
Quotable:
Maranatha coach, Matt Shupper:“Today’s game was special in many ways. Zach was incredible, his focus, his determination, everything was on. Zach not only tossed a no-hitter in a playoff game which is special and rare on its own, but to strike out 17, it’s hard to even fathom. Next, he drives in the first run of the game with a triple. The team today had great energy and good at-bats versus a very good pitcher from Royal. As much as this game was all about Zach, he would be the first to say it was a team win from the start.”
Box Score:
R: 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-(0)
M: 0-0-0-1-0-3-X-(4)
Win: Zach Strickland
Loss: Caden Sramek
3B: Zach Strickland (M)
Records: Royal (16-13); Maranatha (22-6)
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