The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
It’s been a couple years since the Wilson baseball team was able to enjoy the feeling of a playoff win, but the Bruins cruised to that excitement in Friday’s postseason opener.
Wilson hosted Montebello in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field and received a stellar performance from ace Cooper George, who surrendered just three hits while striking out 10 in a shutout effort. The Bruins added a handful of runs including a home run from Eddie Becker, to secure their first playoff victory since 2022 with a 3-0 win.
“I’m always pleased when we can get a playoff win and it’s been a couple years since we’ve got one,” said Wilson coach Andy Hall. “I’m happy with how [George] got better as the game went on. He wanted to finish the game but it’s good to get the bullpen involved, so I’m glad we can walk out of here with a win.”
Wilson’s George found himself in some early trouble in the first inning after walking a batter and allowing a single to put two on with one out. The junior then hit the next batter to load the bases, but escaped the jam without allowing a run after recording a fly out and a strikeout in what ended up being Montebello’s best scoring chance of the afternoon.
George was rock-solid from that point on, retiring 15 of the final 17 batters he faced. The junior frequently turned to his curveball with two strikes throughout the afternoon and had five of his 10 strikeouts looking, later saying he just needed to shake off some nerves after the first-inning scare.
“I was trying to throw too hard and be too perfect with some of my pitches. I’ve had a problem lately in the first inning, so I’ve been trying to work on that and today was a good example,” he said. “Once I got out of that inning, the nerves started to settle down and I started to find my rhythm. Everything felt good, and I just kept doing what I needed to do.”
The Bruins were then freed up at the plate and finished with eight total hits, but none bigger than Becker’s home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Becker had been signaled to bunt in every other at-bat besides that one, but turned on a pitch after getting the green light and sent it over the 335-foot left-field wall to give Wilson a 3-0 lead.
“That just felt like hard work paying off,” Becker said. “All of these days in the gym and at practice, it just feels so good to get rewarded like that and that’s something we’ve been waiting for all season as a team. We’ve had a few homeruns but we knew one was coming and the hard work always pays off.”
The Bruins also came through with some timely hitting in the third inning, where they recorded their first three hits of the afternoon. The third came on an RBI double from James Mirabile to drive in the game’s first run, before Nico Thiem later added to the lead with an RBI double of his own.
Wilson added five more hits the rest of the way, including a one-out triple from George in the bottom of the fifth inning. That marked the Bruins’ closest chance at adding to their lead, but George’s pinch runner was tagged out on a fielder’s choice in the following at-bat.
The Bruins will now advance to the second round of the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs and travel to face the winner between Jurupa Hills and Santa Fe.
