The San Diego Mesa Olympians faced a tough 17-12 loss against the Irvine Valley Lasers on Feb. 20 but put up a valiant effort, never backing down from the challenge, getting on base at least once every inning except for the ninth.
Irvine Valley brought in four runs in the top of the first inning. Mesa responded quickly, going through their entire lineup, and produced three runs.
Continuing at the top of the second, Irvine Valley brought in three runs, with some help from first baseman, Jackson Snitko, hitting a two-run home run. With Mesa trailing by four, they failed to put any runs on the board.
At the top of the third, starting pitcher, Brian Nunez, was taken out of the game and replaced by pitcher, Trav Van Dyke. Nunez pitched two innings, allowing seven hits and five earned runs.
With the new pitcher, Trav Van Dyke, in the game, Mesa was able to hold Irvine to one run. Answering back, Mesa put up two runs with a two-run home run from outfielder, Nick Cook.
With no more runs through the fourth inning and three runs for both teams in the fifth inning, Irvine Valley started to pull away, collecting four runs in the sixth inning. Mesa got two runs in the bottom of the sixth, which made the score 15-10 in Irvine Valley’s favor.
For the final three innings, Irvine Valley brought in two runs in the top of the seventh, while Mesa’s final pitcher, Brett Lawton, delivered a scoreless top of the eighth and ninth. Mesa was able to get two additional runs in the bottom of the eighth, with the help of third baseman Finn Royer driving in the runs and scoring on an error. This made the final score 17-12, and the tough loss went to Mesa College.
With the loss against Irvine Valley, head coach Jake Portugal said, “The result isn’t necessarily what we wanted…Whether we won or lost, today isn’t really changing anything we do. I’m gonna stay with the process of trying to do better.”
Mesa was set to play Irvine Valley again on Feb. 22. Going into that game, Portugal had an approach to defeat Irvine Valley already in mind, “The same relentless approach, still play with passion and heart, but a little more focus here at practice leading up to the next game, on execution, [and] on defense.”
Mesa went on to that game and defeated Irvine Valley with a final score of 9-3.
Mesa’s next game is Thursday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m., against Imperial Valley at home.
