The562’s coverage of Jordan Athletics is sponsored by former LBUSD superintendent Chris Steinhauser and the Timu Foundation.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
If the last two league games are any indication of what’s to come for the Wilson baseball team – the Bruins will be right in the conversation for a Moore League title.
After junior Cooper George pitched a gem in Wilson’s win over Millikan last Friday, fellow junior Shane Guy followed that with a no-hitter on Wednesday as the Bruins defeated Jordan 12-0 at the MLB Youth Academy.
Guy faced 22 batters – one over the minimum – while striking out 14 batters. The lone blemish keeping him from a perfect game was a walk in the fourth inning.
“I felt good. I was trying to get ahead early. First-pitch fastball usually works for me,” Shane Guy said. “The curveball was working well, changeup a little bit, and yeah, I just felt good. Good day for me.”
Wilson (10-5, 4-0) wasted no time jumping out to a lead as they remained patient at the plate drawing four walks in the top half of the first scoring three runs. Guy helped his own case with a sacrifice fly that scored Russell Centenni as the Bruins took a 3-0 lead.
That’s when Guy went to work on the mount as he retired the Panthers in order on nine pitches.
“The nice thing about Shane is he throws strike one,” Wilson coach Andy Hall said. “If you go to the lineup card, I track first pitches, and almost every batter he faced today was strikeable. There were a couple that weren’t, but he works at a good tempo, can change speeds and move the ball in and out.”
Eddie Becker got Wilson going in the second when he hit a two-out double and scored after James Mirabile followed him with his own double as Wilson took a 4-0 lead.
WIlson added three more runs in the third and fourth innings as they took a 7-0 lead. Becker went 3-3 from the plate while seven Bruins hit RBIs. The Bruins’ bats got hot in the seventh inning scoring five runs to put the game out of reach.
It was an impressive outing for the Bruins and a big day for Guy who is emerging as a force in Wilson’s pitching staff where the guys challenge each other.
“We’re all teammates, we’re all brothers. We work together. We want to see each other win, so just happy for Cooper,” Guy said. “Big performance the other day, and I’m glad I got to join him. It was fun.”
Wilson is still looking to play their best baseball and will be back in action when they host Lakewood on Friday.
“There are still another 13 games to go, and hopefully we can hit our peak somewhere around games 27 or 28 and be ready for the big stage,” Hall said.
For Jordan, it was another learning moment for the team and pitching staff as they prepare for a big game against Compton.
“When we throw strikes, we’re competitive. We had too many uncompetitive misses. You can’t walk guys and give a good team free baserunners. We gave away too many free ones,” Jordan coach Phillip Berman said. “We’ll just shake it off. It’s baseball. You’ve got to bounce back. We’ll go out, have a good practice tomorrow and get ready for a big game with Compton.”
