By Judd Liebman
After dominating St. Francis and Santa Monica High School, the baseball team had its three game win-streak snapped by Buena, as it lost 5-1 on Friday. The loss was only the Wolverines’ sixth this season. However, after Newbury Park High School forfeited its game against the Wolverines on Saturday, the team raised its overall record to 16-6.
The team returned to Mission League play yesterday after a three-game hiatus with a game against Chaminade. The results were not available at press time. The varsity squad swept both the St. Francis and Notre Dame series but split the Alemany series, taking a 5-1 league record as of press time.
The Chaminade series opens the team’s final push to CIF which consists of seven games, six of which are against league opponents.
“Chaminade, Crespi and Loyola will all be tough teams, just like everyone else in our league,” Head Coach Matt LaCour said. “We don’t have easy league games.”
The Wolverines’ start of the season was somewhat streaky. They opened up both a four game and three game win streak.
The most recent streak was cut short by a loss against Buena, in which Giolito pitched three innings and gave up five runs. Reliever Jack Flaherty ’14 came in and shut down Buena’s offense and pitched four scoreless innings. Sam Horn ’11 contributed with a solo home run, scoring the Wolverines’ only run in the 5-1 loss.
“Not a matter of working on fundamentals or mechanics, we just came off a layoff, and the team as a whole wasn’t ready to play,” Giolito said.
Despite giving up five runs, the Wolverines’ defense has been the backbone of their recent play, LaCour said.
“Our defense has remained solid in the infield and has proved to be a real strength of our team along with controlling the running game with Arden Pabst ’13 doing a fine job behind the plate,” he said.
The Wolverines were sitting second in league behind the Chaminade Eagles (7-1) going into last night’s matchup. Chaminade’s only loss this season came at the hands of St. Francis on April 5 by a score of 5-4.
“Sweeping Chaminde would be huge for the team’s confidence,” Giolito said.
