The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
It’s never easy walking off the baseball field after a long, hard-fought season, but the feeling after Lakewood’s semifinal loss on Tuesday carried a little extra weight.
The Lancers fell 6-1 to Covina in the CIF-SS Division 6 semifinals, ending an impressive playoff run while also marking the final game for legendary Lakewood coach Walter “Spud” O’Neil, who walked off the field bearing his name for the final time before entering retirement. The result wasn’t what O’Neil would’ve wanted, but he still expressed his appreciation for the team while reflecting after the game.
“This is a team that’s a tale of two stories. We were awful at the beginning of the year and weren’t playing good baseball, but we finally bought in and got ourselves ready for the Moore League season,” he said. “We played really well, and then getting this little cherry on top here in the playoffs was pretty cool for us.”
It was a quiet day offensively for both teams Tuesday in a game that turned in the sixth inning. Up until that point, Lakewood’s Xavier Nunez had been nearly flawless through four innings on the mound before moving to second base, but the Lancers found themselves in a frenzy while turning to three different pitchers during the inning that produced Covina’s only dangerous rally.
That sixth-inning rally proved to be an explosive one for the Colts, who batted around in the frame while recording seven of their 11 total hits and scoring all six of their runs.
It started with a leadoff double from senior Donovan Johnson before Lucas Thorpe smacked a single to bring in the game’s first run. The Colts then added two more singles to put a pair of runners on base before the first out, later cashing in another run on an RBI single. The order then turned over with Aaron Magdaleno driving in two more runs on an RBI double before Lakewood finally recorded the third out.
“It was just one bad inning,” O’Neil said. “And of course, you have to score runs yourselves. They can flat out hit over there, but [Nunez] stopped them and we kept them to six in that one inning but that was a little bit too much for this team.”
Nunez finished with one strikeout while allowing just one hit across four scoreless innings before handing the ball to Lathan Rivas, who had been on fire on the mound entering the game. The senior surrendered Covina’s six runs before Aiden Kautsky recorded an out, with Jayden Pea then coming in to finish the game.
Offensively, Lakewood didn’t necessarily struggle to put runners on base, but rather couldn’t string hits together. The Lancers finished with six hits and three walks, while also leaving runners in scoring position in four different innings.
“We couldn’t come through at the plate with runners in scoring position, which we had been doing the past few games. That’s the big difference,” O’Neil said.
The Lancers threatened in the opening frame with two runners in scoring position and one out, but a ground ball into a double play ended the inning. Lakewood also stranded runners at second base in two other innings before putting together one final rally in the bottom of the seventh.
After a walk and a single from Tanner Miramontes, Nate Gallegos stepped to the plate and delivered another single to load the bases with two outs. A balk in the next at-bat allowed Nick Gallegos to score before the Colts recorded the final out in the following at-bat to seal the win.
Covina also received a stellar outing from junior Isaac Flores, who pitched 5.2 scoreless innings while allowing four hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Senior captain Donovan Johnson then came in for 1.1 innings of relief, surrendering two hits along with Lakewood’s lone run on a bases-loaded balk to prevent the shutout.
The loss caps a career for O’Neil that began when he was hired at Lakewood in February of 1984 following coaching stints at his alma mater, St. Anthony, and Colton High. O’Neil spent 53 years coaching varsity baseball and finished with 984 career wins, the second-most in California history.
“I’m okay with it now,” O’Neil said of retiring. “I really am. I’ve had a great career here and I love this place. The administration has been really good to me, but it’s time. It’s time for the young guys to take over and I’ve said that a lot over the last few years, so it’s time.”
Covina will advance to the CIF-SS Division 6 championship, where it will face Brentwood School on either Friday or Saturday.
