Millikan’s quest to become the first Rams baseball team in school history to win a fourth consecutive Moore League championship is off to a great start. Millikan dominated league rival Lakewood on Wednesday in a statement game, 11-1.
It’s the largest margin of victory for a Moore League team over the Lancers in at least 15 years.
“When I played against Lakewood in 1987 we were up 5-0 and lost, so when we were up that was all I was thinking about the whole game,” said Millikan coach Ron Keester.
Millikan (7-3, 2-0) got plenty of offense, much of it thanks to Lakewood miscues. But the Rams also got a sterling effort on the mound from senior Julian Aguiar, a Long Beach State commit who was throwing low-90s on Wednesday.
“It all started with Julian, he gave us three goose eggs to start the game and that gave our guys a chance to get the lead, we all know how important that is in this league,” said Keester.
Aguiar held Lakewood to one run and struck out seven through 5.1 innings, scattering five hits. He yielded his only run in the top of the fourth after a walk and a double from Wade Coats. That set up Blair McDaniel for a sacrifice RBI to get Lakewood on the board.
But the Rams had already done their damage. Millikan pounced on a series of Lakewood errors in the second inning, scoring five runs as 11 batters came to the plate, taking advantage of five walks, a hit by pitch, and a wild pitch. Millikan got RBI singles from Moises Guzman and Christian Yogi to break the game open and take a 5-0 lead after two.
“We’re just starting to play well,” said Keester. “With all the rain, we didn’t get to play enough to find out how good we are. It’s starting to come together.”
After Lakewood got the run back in the fourth, Millikan continued to apply pressure. The Rams scored another pair of runs in the fourth with RBI from Nico Briones and Ryan Geck. They added another four runs in the fifth after an RBI single from Daniel Murillo and another from Geck, as well as a dropped fly ball in left field that scored two.
Millikan will be back in action Thursday traveling to Cabrillo for a 3:15 p.m. game.
