Strong pitching continues to define the playoff series between the Long Beach Coast and Modesto Roadsters. This time it was Modesto who stifled Long Beach’s offense, winning 4-1 Friday night to force a winner-take-all Game 3 in the first round of the Pioneer Baseball League playoffs.
The Coast struck first on the scoreboard when Eddy Pelc hit a solo home run toward the light tower in right field in the third inning. Unlike in Game 1, where the Coast scored first and kept their lead while slowly adding to it, the Roadsters fought back with a bomb of their own and the Coast couldn’t muster enough offense, combining for seven hits and two walks after the lone home run.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Coast bats had a chance to overcome a poor offensive showing when a Cooper Vest double, Jacob Jablonski hit by pitch and Pelc intentional walk gave catcher Johnny Pappas a shot with the bases loaded while down to their final out.
The Long Beach faithful, who didn’t have much reason to cheer aside from the homer and occasional defensive gem, started to believe their team could snatch victory.
Pappas worked the count to 2-2 but struck out swinging, stamping his 0-for-4 day and evening the series for the Roadsters.
Roadsters pitcher Kelvan Pilot was originally slated to pitch Friday’s contest, but was scratched in favor of Devyn Hernandez several hours before the game. With his team on the brink of elimination, Hernandez met the moment, allowing only one earned run while pitching 7 ⅓ innings.
Starting on the mound for the Coast was Nathan Hemmerling, who suffered his first loss of the year Friday night after going 9-0 in the regular season. The formerly undefeated pitcher threw 6 ⅓ innings, surrendering eight hits and four earned runs.
Hemmerling got off to a hot start, allowing only two singles and a stretch where he struck out three in a row in the first three innings.
Roadsters center fielder Tyler Williams responded in the fourth with a double that was inches away from Emilio Corona’s diving catch in center field. Next up, second baseman Leiker Figueroa reached first via a single to put runners at the corners. Then, first baseman Bryce Cannon erased a 1-2 pitcher’s count by connecting for a three-run go-ahead homer. That swing was the Roadsters’ first home run off Hemmerling this year, a feat they couldn’t pull off in four appearances prior.
In the fifth inning, the Roadsters hit two singles off two-strike counts to drive in another run, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Jerome Williams before Tyler Williams’ hot bat stepped up to the plate with two outs. Williams hit the ball toward the knees of Jacob Jablonski at first base, who was able to corral the frozen rope off the dirt, step on first for the third out and stun Williams, who made solid contact.
Hemmerling’s night came to an end in the seventh inning with two outs remaining after surrendering his eighth hit and an intentional walk to bring to the plate shortstop Jacob Lojewski, who has batted 5-for-31 in September.
Submarine pitcher Steven Ordorica steered his team out of the inning by forcing a foulout and groundout in his two at-bats. Relievers Ordorica, Ryan Faulks and Brett Wozniak combined to allow two baserunners and zero runs in the final 2 ⅔ innings to prevent further damage.
The defense also performed admirably to keep the Coast within striking distance all game. Right fielder Cooper Vest caught a fly ball in the eighth inning and rifled it to third baseman Benjamin Rosengard, who tagged out an advancing Williams for an inning-ending double play.
Rosengard collected three of Long Beach’s eight hits Friday. The remaining Coast batters combined for a .161 average.
The winner-take-all Game 3 will take place Saturday at 6:35 p.m. at Blair Field. Modesto’s Game 3 starter is unknown, but starters who have yet to appear in the series include Ethan Rourke, Jonah Jenkins and Kelvan Pilot. Long Beach’s probable pitcher is Gary Grosjean.
Tickets for the deciding game can be purchased on the team’s website.
Joshua Min
Reporter
Joshua Min is a senior journalism student at California State University, Long Beach and an assistant copy editor for the school’s newspaper, the Long Beach Current. In his first month with the Current, Joshua’s column “Future U ignores today’s problems, leaving ‘U’ out of the picture” won third place for Best Opinion Piece at the California College Media Association Awards. Aside from his copy editing duties, Joshua loves to cover sports and fill in to report on games whenever necessary.
