Few people are more familiar with the rivalry between Lakewood and Millikan than Lancers coach Spud O’Neil, who coached his final rivalry matchup Tuesday in what was the last regular season home game of the legendary coach’s 52-year career.
Lakewood hosted a ceremony for O’Neil before the ballgame, but when it was time to play, it was Millikan that brought the energy in a win that clinched the Rams’ outright Moore League championship. The Rams did so in an 8-0 victory to close the regular season, led by lefty pitcher Daunte Bell’s complete-game, three-hit shutout.
“Last year we had to share the Moore League title, and I just wanted to go out there and claim it for ourselves, really,” Bell said after the game. “I just wanted us to own it, and we came in here wanting to finish as champions. We came in with that mentality, we played with that mentality, and we finished with that mentality.”
“We got everything we needed,” added Millikan coach Ron Keester. “We had 14 well-hit balls and Daunte was as good as he’s been all year. We had guys contribute all over the field. Alan [Machado] had three hits and Marco [Marchionni] in the No. 8 spot came up with some nice hits, so it was really all of those guys getting us on the board.”
Keester also shared some sentiments about O’Neil after the game, as the two share a long history dating back to Keester’s playing days. Keester also played summer ball growing up under Rob Wigod, who served as one of O’Neil’s assistants for 17 years and spoke during the pregame ceremony.
“He’s meant so much to me along the way,” Keester said of O’Neil. “We’ve known each other for a long time, and when I got the head coaching job here he was the guy I’d lean on the most. He would just give me the best advice. It’s special to be a part of this and he means a lot to the whole Moore League. He’s an icon leaving the city.”
Bell was in control from the start to finish throughout Tuesday’s game and finished with seven strikeouts without surrendering any runs or walks. He also helped add some insurance runs for himself at the plate in the top of the third inning, smacking a deep ball to center field for a two-run inside-the-park home run to give Millikan an early five-run lead.
“I’ve seen [Lakewood pitcher Xavier Nunez] since we were younger and he has some really good pitches, so I just came at him with a calm approach and wanted to be selective,” Bell said of the at-bat. “I wanted to find my pitch, and when I did I knew I crushed it. I felt it right off the bat and I was just running for days after that.”
That home run came after Millikan had already scored three runs earlier in the inning, as the Rams started a rally with a pair of base hits from Marco Marchionni and Ethan Barrientos. Alan Machado then drove in both runs before scoring on a passed ball with two outs in the inning.
Machado was the leading batter for the Rams, going 3-for-4 with a run while tacking on another RBI in the sixth inning. After an error and a single, Shane Walley drove in a pair of runs in the inning before scoring on a Machado RBI single. The hit gave the Rams an eight-run lead that they’d hold through the final two innings.
Millikan had four total 1-2-3 innings from Bell, who at one point retired 13 straight batters through the middle stretch of the game. Bell only found himself in a bit of trouble after surrendering a pair of hits in the sixth, but he retired the final four batters, including three straight strikeouts to end the seventh inning.
“A game like this to close out the regular season is so important because it not only gives me a lot of confidence, but it gives my team a lot of confidence too,” Bell said. “I know they already have so much confidence in me, but having that last performance before the playoffs gives us momentum to ride on. We’re going to take it step by step and come out swinging in that first playoff game and come out hot.”
Both teams will await their playoff fate when the CIF-SS baseball brackets are released Saturday at 1 pm. The562 will have live coverage of the bracket release.
