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Fullerton players from left Niko Mendez, Matthew Carbajal, Conner Sunderland and Nate Norman contributed to Saturday’s victory. (Photo: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
For the second day in a row, the Fullerton High School baseball team got strong pitching and productive hitting, defeating Sunny Hills 14-5 in a Freeway League game Saturday afternoon at Sunny Hills.
Matthew Carbajal allowed one run on three hits over four innings and Fullerton pounded out 14 hits to improve its record to 10-4 overall and 2-0. Sunny Hills fell to 7-5-1 and 0-2.
“I was having a bit of problem with the location of my fastball but my curveball was working well,” said Carbajal. “George Papadatos set the standard in yesterday’s game (against Sunny Hills) and we were just trying to follow his lead. Our offense was strong again today and it felt good to get this win.”
Fullerton’s two through seven batters (Connor Sunderland, Nate Norman, Niko Mendez, Malachi Meni, George Papadatos and Kyle Kim) went a combined 10 for 19, scored 11 runs and had 8 RBIs and four stolen bases to lead the Indians.
“It’s been a little discouraging not being able to play because of the transfer rules,” said Mendez, a junior, who transferred from Sunny Hills to Fullerton and was required to sit out the first-half of the season. “I’ve been dying to play and help our team make a CIF run.”
Mendez got on base all five times he batted, including three hits and scoring two runs and adding a stolen base.
Indians Coach Shaun Hill said his team did what it had to do.
“So often in high school sports, teams let down after a big win, but these guys came in with the same energy as yesterday and nothing changed; we did exactly what we had to do; it’s a good win for us,” said Hill.
RBI hits from Meni, Papadatos, Kim and Miguel Velasquez highlighted a 5-run Fullerton third inning that gave the Indians a 6-0 lead. Fullerton added four more runs in the fourth inning and increased its lead to 10-1. Mendez and Papadatos added RBIs in the fifth inning as the Indians upped its lead to 12-1.
The Lancers showed life by pushing across four runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by an RBI triple by Ryan Novajoski, but it was too little too late.
“I told our guys they don’t have to be perfect,” said Sunny Hills first-year coach Chris Vogt. “Over the last few weeks our strength has been our pitching and defense but over the last few games we’ve struggled with both our pitching and our defesne, but sometimes teams go through times like this. It’s a learning process.”
Vogt took over as coach of Sunny Hills on Jan. 8.
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—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
