Run support, good defense and pitching are the basis of baseball. On April 7, the Mesa Olympians baseball team got all three against Imperial Valley College in their 6-2 victory over the Arabs. The win tied the Olympians for first in the conference.
“This win keeps us going for the stretch. we have eight games left this season,” said head coach Kevin Hazlett. “It keeps the momentum going (for our team).”
Mesa staff ace sophomore Justin Lawrence (7-1) continued his brilliant season by going seven innings, giving up seven hits, two runs and striking out six. The right hander did have his blips though. In the top of the fourth was when Lawrence gave up to the two runs to Imperial Valley on a deep double over the left fielder’s, Anthony Herrera, head.
Two innings later Lawrence gave up to consecutive singles and two batters later walked the bases loaded with two outs. The ace got the last out via strike out and leaving the bases juiced. Lawrence went for one more strong inning for Mesa before he was pulled after the fantastic performance against the Arabs.
“(Lawrence) threw well for us today. He has been all year. (You could definitely) say he is our ace going 7-1 now (after this victory),” said Hazlett.
Not to be out done, the Mesa lineup was just as good.
Sophomore catcher Dillon Haupt, 1-4 in the game, hit his state leading seventh homerun of the season in the bottom of the second, while doing a great job behind the plate. The state
leader in home runs was named the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week for the week of March 21. That week Haupt went 5-7 with two runs batted in, two walks, and three runs to go along with two victories over Southwestern.
Later in the second inning, the Olympians drove home two more runs bringing their lead to 3-0.
After letting the lead slip to 3-2, the offense flexed its muscles again in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring four runs in the frame.
The inning started off with designated hitter Lance McFeely getting pegged by Arab pitcher Eduardo Ramirez who himself was solid till seventh inning. McFeely stole second base after being hit and was promptly brought home on a triple by right fielder Darrell Erese. Erese was brought home on a single up the middle by Herrera.
Herrera eventually scored from second base on a single by second baseman Myles Dempsey to record the final run of the game 6-2.
The two bright spots of the game was the excellent pitching duel between Lawrence and Ramirez and the Mesa offense. The two starting pitchers went head to head for most of the game and kept their teams in for most of the game. The timely hitting of the Olympians is what separated these two teams and lead to their fifth victory over Imperial Valley this season.