(Walnut) – By John M. Sherrard – Through threatening skies in the early afternoon in game one to on and off showers late into the night, the host Mt. SAC baseball team split a double header with El Camino College Friday night at Mazmanian Field in the South Coast Conference.
El Camino held off the Mounties, 11-10, in the opening game and Mt. SAC came-from-behind to win the nightcap, 8-2.
Mt. SAC banged out 23 hits in the two games.
Highlighting the second-game win was a three-run home run by sophomore designated hitter Johnny Juarez, IV (Glendora HS) in the four-run eighth inning. The Mounties, trailing, 2-1, in the sixth scored seven runs in the final two innings for the victory. Juarez had four RBIs in both games.
"It (home run) was a no doubter and came at a good time," Juarez said. "I happened to get all of it.
"The win was huge and makes everything worth it."
Leading the way for the Mounties (10-17, 3-9) in both games was sophomore third baseman Matt Majher (Corona HS) with four hits in nine at bats (1 RBI) and sophomore left fielder Spencer Sundahl (East Lake HS) going four for seven with two RBIs.
Sophomore pitcher Daniel Diaz (Ayala HS) won his first game of the season going a strong seven innings in the second game. The right hander scattered nine hits, allowing two earned runs and struck out seven El Camino batters. Twice he struck out two batters in an inning.
"It (win) feels really good," Diaz said, who was injured last season. "I really wanted to win. It was a great team victory and I'm happy to get my first "dub" (win)."
Freshman pitchers Lorenzo Carrillo (Charter Oak HS) and Matt Goytia (Don Lugo HS) each pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the win for Diaz.
After the three-run blast by Juarez in the eighth, Mt. SAC added three more runs in the ninth on consecutive RBIs by freshman first baseman Logan Muratalla (San Dimas HS), sophomore second baseman Dallas Reed (Vista Murrieta HS) and Juarez.
"Absolutely we needed this win," Mt. SAC coach Kevin Smith said. "What I told the kids before the game is this is a gut check. 'Are we going to battle or just going to roll over and die.'
"Our kids played really well with the big homer by Johnny and battling the weather all day and we could finally breathe a sigh of relief."
In the first game Mt. SAC trailed by as much as 6-2 in the fourth inning, but crawled back into it with three in the bottom of the inning. Reed hit a single to right center, scoring sophomore right fielder D.J. Daniels (Bishop Amat HS) and freshman right fielder Antonio Muniz (South Hills HS). Reed scored on an RBI single by Juarez to trail, 6-5.
An inning later Sundahl (2 for 4, 2 runs) scored on a wild pitch to tie the game up 6-6.
However, El Camino (20-6, 9-2) came right back with five runs in the seventh inning for the 11-6 lead.
The Mounties scored two runs in each of the next two innings to trail, 11-10 and had the tying run on second in the bottom of the ninth but failed to send the game in extra innings.