RANCHO CUCAMONGA — It wasn’t looking too promising for the Etiwanda baseball team Friday.
Not only was starting pitcher Michael Aleman running up his pitch count early, but the Eagles were having no luck against Servite starter Toby Kwon and they trailed by three runs.
But they chipped away for a run in the fifth inning, got Kwon out of the game then exploded for seven runs in the sixth en route to an 8-3 victory in a CIF Southern Section Division 2 quarterfinal.
The Eagles (17-12-1) will play at West Ranch in the semifinals Tuesday.
“That first kid was throwing so well for them, we knew we had to get to their pen,” Etiwanda coach Don Furnald said. “This (thrilling playoff win) ranks up there (with) the 2017 game where we had a walk-off home run against Beckman. It ranks up there with that game in 2022 when we won in extra innings at Palos Verdes.”
Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the sixth, Luke Medina led off by drawing a walk against reliever Shane Wendler and after a fielder’s choice, junior L.J. Roellig came to the plate.
“I knew from the previous at-bats from my teammates, I saw he was throwing a couple high fastballs,” Roellig said. “So I was expecting it a little higher in the zone … I just saw my pitch and I drove it.”
Roellig belted his second career home run, both of which have come in the playoffs this year, to tie the game at 3.
Even after Wendler retired the next batter for the second out, the Eagles weren’t done. Ryan Severns and Angel Mejia singled and Jaeden Toki walked to load the bases, bringing up Derick Kim.
“I was looking for a fastball, just to drive it the other way,’ Kim said. “That’s my approach, not to try and do anything big. He hung a curveball and I slapped it the other way.”
Kim singled to right to break the tie and when the ball got past right fielder Michael Cabral, the bases cleared, Kim was on third and the Eagles led 6-3.
Josh Adams followed with the second two-run home run of the inning to make it 8-3.
The sixth inning was in sharp contrast to the first five innings when the Friars took the early lead and threatened to blow the game open against Aleman.
Servite failed to score in the first inning despite getting a walk, a hit by pitch and a single, but scored all three of its runs in the second on three consecutive two-out RBI singles by Avery Jones, Tomas Cernius and Cabral.
Aleman was struggling early and tempered his expectations, hoping he would last five innings.
“It was a battle,” Aleman admitted. “We had that one call (at the plate) that could’ve gone our way. We fought through it as a team. My guys had my back the whole time. I stayed confident in myself, no matter what the situation was.”
As big as the sixth inning rally was, perhaps just as important was Servite’s potential rally that was snuffed out by Aleman.
The Friars loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning on a single and two walks, but with a reliever ready to come in, Aleman retired the next three batters on two popups and a flyout to keep it 3-0.
Meanwhile, Kwon was cruising along with four shutout innings, then Etiwanda finally got on the board with an RBI single by Kim with two outs in the fifth. Kwon left after five innings, leading 3-1 and having allowed only five hits, two walks and striking out eight.
“You could tell he had worked hard,” Furnald said of Kwon. “I wasn’t really surprised (that he came out after five innings), but I was glad.”
It soon became clear that his players were glad, too.
After early concerns he would be lucky to make it through five innings, Aleman ended up pitching a nine-hitter, striking out six, walking three and hitting two. He retired the last seven batters he faced, striking out four in that span.
