By Jack Davis

After winning their first two playoff games the varsity boys’ baseball team faced off against number one seed Glendora yesterday in the second round of CIF playoffs at newly renovated O’Malley Family Field.

While the Wolverines have gotten on a roll in the playoffs, just two weeks ago even just a playoff berth was in doubt for the team. The team lost four of its final five games including losing three of four league games. The squad ended the season with a 5-7 league record and needed a victory in the last game of the regular season against Dos Pueblos in order to secure a wild card berth, giving the team a chance to continue their season.

Instead of opening up the playoffs in the first round of CIF, the Wolverines started the playoffs with a wild card round game against Arroyo Grande. The typical seven innings weren’t enough to decide the contest with both teams deadlocked at 3-3 until the 13th inning. Then pinch hitter Arden Pabst ’13 hit a home run with two runners on, giving the Wolverines a 6-3 lead they would not relinquish.

The victory sent the Wolverines to the first round of CIF where they had to travel to Foothill, a team seeded higher than them in playoff seedings. The Wolverines jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead after three innings behind an Austin Wilson ’10 home run and the first career home run for Joe Corrigan ’13. The Wolverines held off Foothill rallies winning 5-2 sending them to the second round of CIF playoffs against top seeded Glendora.

Despite the stiff competition they faced in the playoffs, head coach Matt LaCour felt that the team’s tough league opponents had prepared them well for the playoffs.

“We are not going to see anybody that is going to be any better than teams we have been playing all season long,” LaCour said.

Glendora boasts one of the top prospects in the nation in UCLA commit Adam Plutko, who may even bypass his college career if he goes high enough in the draft.

Before the game LaCour said facing Plutko, “should be a lot of fun” and even though Glendora is the top ranked team in bracket it was just “another game on the way to the big prize.”

LaCour credits a lot of the team’s success to the toughness of his players.

“Each player has had a different path. I think the one common trait that they all have and we have, as a team is toughness. We have brought ourselves back from bid deficits this year and we don’t have any give up in us,” LaCour said.

Tuesday’s game against Glendora was the team’s fifth game on its new field and they had lost the previous four games on O’Malley Family Field.

“We really want to break the new field in with a victory,” outfield Oliver Lowry ’10 said before the game. “Being able to do that against the top seed, against one of the top pitchers in the nation, nothing would be nicer than that,” Lowry said.