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Players from Bolsa Grande (left) and and Rancho Alamitos meet after Thursday’s game. (PHOTOS: Jacob Ramos, For OC Sports Zone).
Bolsa Grande High School visited Rancho Alamitos for a non-league baseball match-up on Thursday and came out victorious 4-1. The Matadors gave the ball to Tank Britton, who went the distance and struck out eight hitters in seven innings of work.
Postgame, Britton spoke to OC Sports Zone about his mindset during Thursday’s outing.
“We [came] into this game [knowing] we’re a good team,” Britton said. “I just gotta attack the strike zone. I walked a few guys, but I gotta give my boys a chance to back me up [on defense].”
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Bolsa Grande (11-6, 6-2) defeated the Vaqueros (7-10, 2-6) in the last meeting between the cross-town rivals, 15-5. Mikey Haley Jr. got the win for the Matadors, striking out seven hitters in five innings in that game.
In Thursday’s game, a 0-0 stalemate between the teams was broken up in the top of the fourth inning after Haley Jr. and Geoffrey Guerrero hit back-to-back doubles to get Bolsa Grande on the board.
After his squad fell into a 1-0 hole, Rancho Alamitos’ Matthew Arguelles found his way out of trouble in the top of the fifth after inducing two fly balls to get out of a jam where the Matadors put two on with one out.
Postgame, Rancho Alamitos Head Coach Sammy Macias spoke about Arguelles’ ability to work in tough spots throughout the season for the Vaqueros.
“He’s our senior, he’s our captain … he’s gonna get the job done,” Macias said. “He’s one of the guys we can rely on in any situation.”
A pair of fifth inning errors by Bolsa Grande set up second and third with no outs for Rancho Alamitos. Britton dug deep, striking out two Vaquero hitters and getting a third to pop out to third base to keep Bolsa Grande up 1-0 headed into the top of the sixth inning.
The wheels started to fall off for the Vaqueros in the top of the sixth inning. Bolsa Grande loaded the bases with no outs before Britton padded his own lead with an RBI single and a wild pitch allowed a third Matador run to score.
The Vaqueros threatened in the bottom of the sixth, but a slick 6-2 putout by Matador shortstop Julian Mendoza to catcher Samuel Montes De Oca limited the damage to one.
Bolsa Grande tacked on an insurance run in the top half of the seventh courtesy of Haley Jr.’s second double of the night, this time driving in the fourth Matador run of the afternoon.
Britton managed traffic in the bottom half of the seventh, but got a forceout at third base to close out Bolsa Grande’s 11th win of the season.
The Bolsa Grande victory helps the Matadors’ confidence as they try to clinch a league title, which would their first in more than 40 years.
“We come out and play to win every game,” Bolsa Grande Head Coach Kyle Strobehn said. “The preparation for [the rest of the season] is to continue more of what we’ve been doing.”
Bolsa Grande faces second place Savanna in a two-game series next week.