The562’s baseball coverage in 2025 is sponsored by the Millikan, Long Beach Poly, and Lakewood baseball boosters.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The Wilson Bruins (17-7, 10-0) took another big step toward a Moore League championship on Wednesday afternoon, starting fast in a 5-1 win over Long Beach Poly (12-12, 6-4) on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field.
It’s the 14th Moore League win in a row for the Bruins, who remain in first place with just two games left on their regular season schedule, against Jordan and Millikan.
Wilson started fast with five runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, getting a solid outing from Cooper George and Ben Howard on the mound to preserve the victory.
“The beauty of it is, we’ve grown a lot offensively,” said Wilson head coach Andy Hall. “Coach (Marc) Prager has done a really nice job running our offense this year. When you look at the lineup on the computer screen, it’s getting pretty long now.”
Look no further than Gram Ludwig in the No. 9 hole, who delivered the biggest hit of the day with a two-out, two-run single to turn a 3-0 lead into a 5-0 lead in the opening frame. The Bruins sent 10 batters to the plate in that inning, collecting five singles as they put the ball in play and benefitted from some miscues by Poly’s defense.
“When you’re up to bat, the coach has got confidence in you, no matter where you are in the lineup,” said Ludwig of Wilson’s success up and down the batting order. “So I’m hitting ninth, a lot of guys don’t want to hit there, but I’m happy with it. I just do my job, and today I came up with a big hit.”
Leadoff man Nathaniel Parris started the first-inning rally with a line drive to center field, and would advance to third base on a key error in the Poly outfield, which put two Bruins in scoring position. Russell Centanni blooped an RBI single into left center to bring home the first run, then consecutive singles from Logan Smith and Eddie Becker made it a 2-0 lead with the bases loaded.
After a walk to Diego Valdez forced in a run, the Jackrabbits got a strikeout for the second out of the inning. But Ludwig made sure the inning stung with his line drive to center, scoring both Smith and Becker for the 5-0 lead.
Wilson sophomore Cooper George got the start, allowing one run on a pair of hits and three walks. Senior Ben Howard came in to cover the final two innings for the Bruins, as they look ahead toward a possible playoff rotation on the hill.
“We are starting to look to the future a little bit without getting too far ahead of our skis,” Hall said. “Cooper came off the basketball court, so we slow-played him for most of the year, and he’s really developed nicely. I think he has a really nice arm and needs to be in those high leverage situations, because when we hopefully get to the second round of the playoffs, he’s going to be on the bump and hopefully Benny’s gonna come in and slam the door in the last inning.”
Poly was able to get the leadoff man on in each of the first four innings, and broke through for a run in that fourth frame. Singles by Deven Munoz and Giovanni Miggliazza were sandwiched around a walk to Caleb Safotu to load the bases with no outs.
However, Wilson was able to limit the damage with a 4-6-3 double play, and the Jackrabbits had to settle for just one run in the frame.
The Bruins certainly had the advantage defensively, playing a clean game while Poly committed four errors on the day. Rudy Carlos, Jr. added a terrific diving stop at first base to help stifle a potential seventh-inning rally for the Jackrabbits.
Defense has been a strong suit for the Bruins this year as they look to secure their first Moore League title since 2017–and first outright crown since 2005.
“It’s a really simple game, if you file it down to its basic components: throw strike one, get the first out, get the lead off guy on, get him over, get him home,” Hall said. “And the kids are buying in … And I have really no reservations about playing anybody off of our bench, because they all work their tails off and do a great job in practice, and show us that they can compete. So it’s a good situation for us to be in, no doubt.”
Poly will take on Compton on Friday and finish the regular season with a trip to Lakewood next Tuesday.
Wilson can clinch at least a share of the Moore League title with a win over Jordan on Friday, and will wrap up the season with a highly-anticipated rematch against Millikan next Wednesday.
