The562’s coverage of Millikan athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Curtis Boyer.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
Millikan’s had a bad taste in their mouth after a less-than-crisp loss at home to start the week against Long Beach Poly, and the goal was to wash that out on the road at Lakewood Friday afternoon. In a game that had been rescheduled twice due to rain, the Rams looked the sharpest they have all season in an error-free 2-0 victory over the Lancers.
The win came with a complete-game effort from starting pitcher Austin Paul, who gave up just three hits and walked only one in a shutout effort. Paul’s defense played perfectly behind him, hauling in a barrage of fly balls from Lakewood and turning a double play to end the only real Lancer threat of the afternoon.
“The defense is the difference between today and against Poly,” said Millikan coach Ron Keester. “Being able to make those plays to keep the Lakewood runners off, not allowing the extra bses. Austin did a tremendous job, he was in command of a lot of stuff out there today. When he’s on like that he’s very effective versus anybody that we play against.”
Paul’s speed isn’t overpowering, but he threw three pitches for strikes and did a great job of nibbling around the edges of the strike zone, keeping Lakewood off balance and letting his defense make plays behind him.
“I’ve got total confidence in those guys, so it’s just make good pitches and trust in the guys behind me,” said Paul.
The Rams took advantage of some Lakewood miscues in the third to get their lead. Lakewood starter Adrian Arellano had a solid outing, but he issued a two-out walk to Demetri Syrengelas in the top of the third. After that, speedy sophomore outfielder Anthony Pack hit a ball to the shortstop deep in the hole. It wasn’t fielded cleanly but with Pack’s speed there wasn’t a play either way, putting two on with two outs.
After that, Syrengelas advanced on a ball in the dirt, which may have ended up being the play of the game. That’s because after that, sophomore Ben Keisler hit a high-bouncer to third. Had Syrengelas still been on second, the third baseman could have simply stepped on third and ended the inning. Instead, he had to make a quick off-balance throw to first--the throw was wide, allowing Syrengelas and Pack both to score.
Keisler had a big day at the plate, with a pair of doubles. He’s one of a number of young key players for the Rams.
“I’m feeling good, it feels like the hard work is paying off,” said Keisler. “5:45 at the gym, swimming, getting my body ready to work.”
Keester said his staff knew the Rams would be relying on some sophomores and freshmen in big spots, but that the multitude of rain delays has perhaps slowed their development early in the season.
“Offensively we just haven’t been swinging the ball yet, but a lot of that is the rain and needing more at bats for the sophomores,” he said. “What we’re seeing in batting practice is better than what we’ve shown so far, we just haven’t been able to put it into a game yet.”
For Lakewood, it was a frustrating way to pick up their first league loss. Longtime coach Spud O’Neil acknowledged that the game felt kind of flat, not the usual hard-competing fans would expect to see at a Lakewood/Millikan game. In part, a twice-rescheduled game taking place at 2 p.m. with no fans allowed on campus probably contributed.
“Yeah, it was flat,” he said. “Their kid on the mound did a great job. And we just hit fly ball after fly ball, and we throw away a ball to give up two unearned runs. We get that, we’re still playing right now.”
The Lancers only got a runner into scoring position once, as they had back-to-back two-out singles from Angel Jacobo and Brandon Luna in the bottom of the third. But a flyout to left field ended the threat, and from that point they only had two runners reach base.
Both teams played second games later in the day on Friday, with Millikan beating Jordan 20-1 and Lakewood defeating Compton.
Both teams will be back in action next week as Lakewood (7-7, 4-1) will face Poly at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field on Wednesday while Millikan (9-5, 4-1) will face Wilson in the first game of the Blair doubleheader--weather permitting.
