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.
The562’s coverage of Jordan Athletics is sponsored by former LBUSD superintendent Chris Steinhauser and the Timu Foundation.
The Moore League baseball schedule started with a thriller at the MLB Urban Youth Academy, where Long Beach Poly came back against an upset-minded Jordan team to come away with a win. The results, along with a close Cabrillo game against Wilson, signal what looks like a fun baseball season in the city. The Jackrabbits trailed by one after five innings but got a clutch performance from Will Trunnelle in the seventh inning to take a 7-5 victory.
Trunnelle had a two-RBI single through in the seventh to put Poly on top, then ended up sliding over from first to pitch the final out of the game and secure the win.
“I’m just thinking like in practice, stay simple stay through it,” said Trunnelle of his thought process in the clutch at bat. “I don’t think he’s going to blow anything by me so just stay connected and through it which is what I did.”
Poly coach Soloman Williams wasn’t surprised Trunnelle came up big when he needed to.
“Will is someone we know is going to be a huge part for us,” said Williams. “He struggled a little bit with the bat at the beginning of the season, but he’s swinging it great. He can do it all–he can hit, he can bunt, he can run, and then you saw him close out the game. I was super impressed with him.”
The game pitted Poly starting pitcher Damian Marquez against Jordan sophomore ace Julian Lopez. The Jackrabbits struck first in the opening frame when catcher Caleb Safotu brought in UCLA commit Tate Hammond after Hammond’s leadoff double. The Panthers evened the score in the bottom of the second on an RBI hit by Andrew Medina, which scored Julian Lopez.
The Jackrabbits retook the lead in the third on a ground ball single through the left side by Manny Gonzales, which drove in Safotu and Fausto Gaxiola. Safotu would later sacrifice in Malakai Pruitt, which gave the Jackrabbits a 4-1 lead going to the bottom of the fifth.
It had been relatively smooth sailing for Marquez to that point, but the Panthers put together a big fifth inning. It started with a leadoff walk to Medina, then after back-to-back strikeouts by Marquez seemed like Poly might get out of it painlessly.
But the Panthers bore down; Matthew Alcala singled, then Sam Dixon was hit by Marquez to load the bases. Ethan Fragoza hit a left-side single to bring Jordan within two, then another HBP to Adrian Lara brought the Panthers within one and kept the bases juiced. Marquez got Julian Lopez to ground one to short, but Hammond bobbled it with the runners going, scoring two to give Jordan a 5-4 lead.
Marquez would get out of it with a ground ball to second, and Poly tied the game back up in the top of the sixth, as Pruitt grounded into a fielder’s choice on a beautiful flip play by shortstop Matthew Alcala, but a throwing error going for two scored a run for the Jackrabbits. Marquez got the Panthers 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth including two painted strikeouts looking.
Poly’s seventh-inning rally came with two outs. Gonzales opened things with a roped double down the left field line, then advanced on an infield single by Braylen Reyes; Evan Bagley was then plunked to load the bases, setting up Trunnelle’s heroic knock to score two.
Marquez got the first two outs quickly on three pitches in the bottom of the seventh, including a smoothly-fielded ball at short by Hammond, who got it running in and then beat the speedy Dixon.
But the Panthers dug in, as Fragoza drew a two-out walk, then Lara doubled to put the tying run into scoring position. Williams then took Marquez out after yielding six hits in 6.2 innings pitched, striking out six and walking two. Lopez was as effective in the box for Jordan as he was on the mound, where he gave up four hits in three innings. Williams elected to walk him to load the bases. Trunnelle fell behind 2-0 trying to locate his fastball, then got strike one looking, a foul-off, and finally strike three swinging from Talin Velazquez to end the game.
Despite the win, Williams was frustrated with his team’s play.
“First of all I was really impressed with their entire team, their entire coaching staff, their ace on the mound and in the box,” said Williams. “I thought this was probably the worst effort I’ve seen from our guys over the Summer, Fall, Winter to now. We didn’t execute, we were not tough-minded. We show up some days and look to me like a Division 2 or 3 champion, and then we can show up on days and not. We’re unhappy with this first game. We have a big week ahead of us to think that we’re going to compete with Lakewood and Millikan and Wilson coming up.”
Trunnelle echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“We’ve got to play more team baseball,” he said. “It’s too individual right now–I think if we come together earlier in that game, we’re able to break away instead of needing a clutch hit.”
Jordan coach Philip Berman was rightfully proud of his team’s effort and grit, especially the work of the sophomore Lopez and his freshman pitcher Jakob Macias after him.
“We’re just playing hard and doing little things,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything we have any regrets about today–they got one more hit, maybe one more bounce. It just didn’t go our way today, but we played well.”
Berman said that Lopez had to come out of the game with elbow tightness.
“I don’t know if he was at 100%, but that just speaks to how competitive he is, he didn’t want to come out,” said Berman. “He gave us a chance to win, and I’m really proud of him for how he pitched.”
Jordan (5-2, 0-1) will travel to Millikan Wednesday then host Rolling Hills Prep on Friday while Poly (6-4, 1-0) will visit Artesia on Tuesday then face Lakewood at 3:30pm at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field on Friday.
Other Moore League Scores
Wilson 5, Cabrillo 1
The Bruins improved to 7-3 and 1-0 in league play with an Opening Day win over an upset-minded Cabrillo team. The Bruins led just 2-1 after five innings before putting up three more in the sixth to pull away. Wilson got RBI hits from Eddie Becker and James Mirabile as Shane Guy, Agi Chandler, and Mirabile combined for a one-hit pitching performance. The Jags got a gutty effort from Fabian Vigil on the mound, as he went five innings with two earned runs allowed. Shortstop Eli Torres had the RBI hit for the Jags.
Millikan 8, Compton 0
The Rams got a combined two-hit shutout game from Joaquin Gutierrez (3 IP, 0 H, 4 K, 1 BB) and AJ Nonato (4 IP, 2 H, 7 K, 0 BB) as well as RBI hits from Marco Marchionni, Shane Wally, Daunte Bell, Micah Claverie, and Lucas Helig. Compton’s hits were by catcher Erik Vera and Luis Galaviz.
