Posted on 17 April 2014 by La Habra Journal
Henry Bustamante (pictured against Murrieta Mesa) drove home the go-ahead run against Troy on Tuesday afternoon. The Raiders completed the sweep of Troy with a 1-0 win in eight innings, Thursday at home.
by Jeremiah Girard
La Habra Journal
The Sonora baseball team continued its undefeated run through Freeway League play as it improved to 7-0 with a 1-0 victory in eight innings to complete a sweep of Troy, Thursday at home.
It was the Raiders’ second extra-inning victory over the Warriors this week. Sonora defeated Troy on the road 3-1 in eight innings on Tuesday afternoon.
The game was scoreless after seven innings, but the Raiders (12-6-1, 7-0) finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth inning. Gabe Armstrong led off the inning with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Dillon Meyer.
Henry Bustamante laid a sacrifice bunt down the third-base line to move Meyer over to second base with one out. Maricio Guadaramma then came up and lined a shot into the right-center field gap that scored Meyer easily and gave the Raiders the walk-off win.
“My approach was just to hit something kind of hard to the right side,” Guadaramma said. “I just wanted to make sure that, if nothing else, I got Dillon over to third [base].”
Armstrong had two hits on the day, but his mark on the game was much more than just that. He also started the game and went the distance, giving up three singles and striking out seven batters.
“My arm felt good today,” Armstrong said. “I knew I had a lot of movement so I was just trying to hit my spots.”
Armstrong has been the teams’ ace for the preseason and the first part of league play.
“He came in and won the job,” said Sonora head coach Pat Tellers. “He has been great on the mound and at the plate. “
Troy also got a great pitching performance out of Brett Boller. He pitched seven-and-one-thirds innings for the Warriors and only gave up one run on five hits and struck out two batters.
“He came out and dominated us early,” Tellers said. “He did a great job mixing up his pitches and keeping us off balance.”
The Warriors (6-11, 3-4) threatened in the fourth inning but could not get the run home. With a runner on second base and one out, Tim Kim lined a base hit into center field but center fielder Justin Mellano came up throwing and threw Turner Acosta out at home.
The Raiders will look to improve to 8-0 when they travel to Fullerton next Wednesday.
“Our bats need to get going,” Tellers said. “If we do not, we will find ourselves in trouble in some tough games down the stretch.”