The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
With some timely hitting and solid defense the Millikan baseball team took another step to their third Moore League title in four years as the Rams defeated Long Beach Poly 3-1 at Cabrillo on Wednesday afternoon.
The Rams jumped on the Jackrabbits early after back-to-back singles from Shane Walley and Alan Machado put Millikan in good position early against Poly starter Malakai Pruitt.
Adrian Ramirez gave the Rams the first-inning lead with a sacrifice fly that pushed Waller across as Millikan took a 1-0 lead in the middle of the first.
“I would’ve loved to have eight more runs today because I felt like we left a lot on the table, but our guys didn’t panic,” Millikan coach Ron Keester said.
Star pitcher Daunte Bell got the start for Millikan and immediately went to work as he retired the Jackrabbits in order striking out two batters. Bell went on to pitch a complete game with two hits, 1 run and eight strikeouts.
The Rams continued to manufacture runs in the second after Marco Marchionni led off with a single and Walley put two Rams on base with his own single. Alan Machado pushed Marchionni across to give Millikan a 2-0 lead at the top of the second.
Pruitt minimized the damage and kept it a two run game. That’s when Bell continued to keep the Jackrabbits at bay and Pruitt got his defense to back him up as both teams went scoreless until the sixth inning.
In the sixth inning, Ethan Barrientos led off with a single and after Walley drew a walk, Ramirez smacked another RBI single to put the Rams up 3-0.
Poly got things going in the seventh when senior Tate Hammond hit his second single of the game as he managed both of the Jackrabbits hits of the day. Hammond scored Poly’s lone run when Caleb Safotu hit a sacrifice fly to made it a 3-1 game.
“We’re still a developing team,” Long Beach Poly coach Soloman Williams said. “I think today had more to do with how good they were. Daunte Bell is probably the best player in the league, but they’ve got a tough lineup one through nine. They make plays on defense. We’re going to bounce back. We’re excited for the playoffs, but we’ve got to get it back on track a little bit.”
Millikan will be back in action on Friday when they take on Cabrillo and Poly heads to Compton.
“We just try to stay locked in, one at-bat at a time,” Bell said of the Rams’ mentality heading into the final week of the regular season. “The chemistry we have is building game after game, and I really love that about our team. We’re going in with a lot more confidence. It’s like, ‘Hey, it’s just another game we’re going to get this done.’ We just go out there and play Millikan baseball, play our part. I feel like we did that really well, and if we keep doing that, it’s going to keep us at a high success rate.”
