Long Beach Poly’s historic playoff run came to an end in the second round on the road against Temescal Canyon, where the magic ran out in a 5-0 loss. Poly won a wild card game and a first-round game to advance to the second round for the first time since 2006.
“I’m extremely proud of the guys and the way they came together,” said Poly coach Brent Lavoie. “We had seven seniors who carried us, and they made history. How we move forward is by saying this is the standard now, we have to expect this.”
The Jackrabbits started center fielder EJ Andrews on the mound, and the Fresno State signee (who had never pitched prior to this season) gave it 3.2 innings before yielding to teammate Jesse Simon after the Titans had taken a 4-0 lead.
“EJ was a competitor this year,” said Lavoie. “He wasn’t a pitcher and he said he would do anything he could to help his team.”
Offensively Poly had three hits while giving up six in the game. The Titans took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and Poly had a chance to answer back in the top of the third after a single from Nolan Brown and a two-out walk to Chris Murphy, but couldn’t cash anyone in. The Titans scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning and kept Poly off balance the rest of the game. The other Poly hits were by Murphy (in the first inning) and Edgar Rosales, who had a one-out single in the seventh inning.
