The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
The Lakewood Lancers took a long drive up to Pasadena and enjoyed a victory ride home on Friday.
Lakewood traveled out to John Muir High School to take on the Mustangs in the CIF-SS Division 6 quarterfinals. A 5-3 win punched Lakewood’s ticket through to the semifinals and marked legendary Head Coach Spud O’Neil’s 985th career win.
“I’ve been trying to retire for the last three weeks and these guys won’t let me, in a good way,” O’Neil said. “They know what they’re supposed to do, and they’ve been doing it.”
Muir starting pitcher Sonny Rodriguez had a strong showing in the first inning, striking out three to retire the visiting Lancers in their first at-bats.
But, Lakewood wouldn’t stay quiet for long. They loaded the bases in the top of the second for senior center fielder Tanner Miramontes. With one out on the board, Miramontes hit a hard ball into the 5-6 hole, forcing an out at second base but bringing Jayden Pea across the plate for the first score of the game.
After getting on the board and having runners in the corners, a wild pitch to the backstop brought Victor Rodriguez in to put the visitors up 2-0 early in the game.
“They’re always going to deliver, I know they’re going to. They’re going to fight, do their best to get on base and score,” starting pitcher Xavier Nunez said of his offense. “It’s good to have that run support, knowing that you’re ahead and all you have to do is your part.”
Muir got a close scoring chance in the bottom of the third when Khalil Rishwain got on base with a hard-hit single through the left side of the infield. Rishwain made it to third base after stealing second and third to put him 90 feet away from getting the home team on the board.
Even with the Mustangs fighting to score, Lakewood starting pitcher Xavier Nunez stayed in it to sit down Muir’s Ezekiel Rodriguez on a looking strike three call and shut down the threat.
The next innings went quiet, but Lakewood extended their lead in the fifth inning. Nunez got on with a single to left field and moved over on a ground ball to second base. The senior stole third base to get in scoring position for the visitors.
Anthony Rueda came up to the plate but after a few pitches, Muir elected to intentionally walk the senior third baseman. With runners in the corners and two outs, Rueda took an extended lead toward second base, causing Rodriguez to come off the mound and turn his back to Nunez on third.
Rueda played between the bases to keep Rodriguez coming toward him, allowing Nunez to take off for the plate and score before the Mustangs tagged Rueda out. The Lancers were up 3-0 midway through the fifth inning.
“I’ve had struggles this season trying to do both, trying to do two way, but it’s finally starting to click,” Xavier Nunez said. “I’m glad it’s at the right time, it feels great.”
Muir put themselves back in the fight in the bottom of the inning. The leadoff hitter was hit by a pitch and back-to-back bunts allowed each runner to reach safely and load the bases with no outs.
Lathan Rivas came in to pitch for Lakewood as a southpaw, immediately forcing a ground ball to second base. The Lancers were able to get the out, allowing the Mustangs to score their first run on the fielder’s choice.
Runners were at the corners for Muir, but a shallow fly out to left field caught by shortstop Nate Gallegos kept them there and gave Lakewood two outs.
The sophomore pitcher Rodriguez came up to the plate looking for his vengeance and found it with a 2 RBI single to right field that evened out the score 3-3.
The young talent shined for the home team. Freshman Brandon Figueroa flashed the leather at shortstop and the sophomore Rodriguez racked up 8 strikeouts through five innings and brought in those two runs on offense.
But, Rivas locked it back down and struck out the last hitter on a looking strike three call to limit the damage.
“You can’t let what they do determine how the rest of the game goes,” Xavier Nunez said. “You focus on the rest of the game, you take it into your next at-bat and never let up.”
It was a brand new ball game coming into the final two innings. The Lancers weren’t satisfied with the tie score and proved it in the sixth. Pea smacked a double off the fence to deep center field to get in scoring position for the visitors.
Danny Manriquez came in as a pinch hitter and fought through the count to punch a single to center, putting runners at the corners for Nick Gallegos. The junior stepped up to the occasion at the plate and hit an RBI single to left field to give the lead back to Lakewood, 4-3.
“We just try to stay short, top half of the ball like the coaches tell us, and it felt good to give the team the lead,” Nick Gallegos said. “They scored some runs, and we just kept on scoring runs too.”
The Lancers were in a rhythm now, as Rivas struck out the first two Mustangs in the bottom of the sixth and Nate Gallegos made a great play at short to sit them down 1-2-3.
“We knew they were very good, especially on their own field, and you have to get ahead in these kinds of games,” O’Neil said. “Our guys did it, and our resilience got us through.”
Lakewood wasn’t done on offense just yet. Xavier Nunez led off with a double to left center field and moved over to third on a sac bunt by Nate Gallegos. Rueda came back up for the Lancers and hit a hard ground ball past the third baseman to bring Nunez in and increase the score 5-3 in the visitors’ favor.
“Being ahead two runs instead of one is big in any baseball game, high school baseball in particular,” O’Neil said. “With that second run, you could see us really buckle up, buckle down and get it done.”
Muir tried to spark a rally in the bottom of the seventh, with Bryant Soriano leading off with a hard hit single past first base. The second baseman tried to stretch the hit into a double, but was caught up in his confidence and tagged out to give Lakewood some energy with two outs left to go.
Back-to-back groundballs to the left side of the infield ended the ball game and won the game for the Lancers, punching their ticket through to the CIF-SS Division 6 semifinals with a 5-3 win.
“We’re feeling great, but we’re not done here,” Xavier Nunez said. “We still got work to do, and we’re gonna keep going.”
For Nunez, chasing that feeling of being unfinished is deeply personal for this Lakewood team. The Lancers are playing for something bigger than themselves through this playoff run.
“Obviously we’re playing for not just Coach O’Neil, but we’re playing for our fallen brother Malakai Kemp,” Nunez said. “We’re just playing for us. We’re the class of 26, we’re supposed to be the class that does it all and here we are, one game away from the finals, and we’ll see what happens.”
