Senior Michael Coppens did his job on the mound; he just needed some runs to back him up. His teammates responded in a big way, as the Indians got past Sunny Hills 1-0 on Tuesday afternoon.
Sunny Hills had no runs with 6 hits and 3 errors, while Fullerton got its 11 runs on 8 hits, and committed one error.
Coppens had a strong performance for Fullerton, as he pitched a complete game shutout, and struck out four Lancers to improve his record to 3-0. Sunny Hills starting pitcher Aaron Paek was credited with the loss, making him 0-1 on the season. Paek pitched 3 innings while giving up one run and striking out two.
Fullerton’s offense was led by Seth Nelson, who hit a three-run homerun in the fifth inning, and added two more RBIs to his total of 5.
Sunny Hills (10-10, 1-2) started the game off hot, as they hit three straight singles to load the bases with one out. They were not able to capitalize on it, as Luis Garza grounded out into 4-6-3 double play.
In the bottom of the first, Logan Irby started it off with a double to center field. Two batters later, Jack Anderson hit a single to bring Irby in to give Fullerton (13-5, 3-0) a 1-0 lead.
The pitchers dominated for the next couple of innings, as a single in the top of the second inning by Enoch Kim was the only hit each team would get for the next three innings. After a single and a walk for the Indians in the bottom of the fifth inning, Seth Nelson hit a 340-foot homerun to right center field off of Joshua Dibble to give the Indians a 4-0 advantage.
After giving up two straight singles in the top of the sixth, Coppens got a visit on the mound from manager Tony Gonzalez. Coppens said that the visit was to make sure he, “was focused and stayed in the zone”. The visit turned out to work, as Coppens was able to retire the next two batters to end the inning.
It was the top of the sixth inning that the Indians dominated, as 12 Fullerton batters came to the plate. Jaewoo Park came in to pitch for the Lancers, the bases were loaded, and with one out, Irby grounded to shortstop Aaron Paek, but he couldn’t get a hold on the ball, and junior Paul Lee scored to make it 5-0. On the next at-bat, Nelson hit a 2-run RBI single to center field to make it 7-0.
After loading the bases and recording only one out, senior Juan Guerrero replaced Park. Guerrero first faced Roberto Salazar, and walked him on 5 pitches to make it 8-0. It only got harder for Guerrero, as on the following at-bat, Mitchell Alvarez hit a bases loaded single to make it 9-0. After Alvarez, senior Ryan Bolton hit a two-run double to the right field wall to extend the Indian lead to double digits. Guerrero was able to retire the next two batters to end Fullerton’s seven-run inning.
Down by 11 in the final inning, Sunny Hills started the seventh with Enoch Kim reaching base on an error by Indian third baseman Paul Lee. Kim didn’t last on the bases for long, as the next batter Andrew Fixa grounded out into a 1-6-3 double play. Coppens was able to finish the game after Dustin Black lined out to right field, giving the Indians their third straight win.
The win was lead by Michael Coppens, and when asked about his performance after the game, Coppens simply said, “all of my pitches worked”.
Both of these teams will face each other again Thursday, this time at Sunny Hills High School, with first pitch set a 3:15 p.m.
