Fullerton bounces back from a loss to L.A. Harbor last week, as they defeated Sacramento City 11-2, at Hornet Field on Feb. 20. The Hornets were able to take complete control from the third inning on, with standout performances from starting pitcher Will Valenzuela and catcher Nate Pone.
Valenzuela was dominant on the mound in his 5 innings of work. Especially from the third inning on, Valenzuela’s change-up and splitter threw the hitters’ timing off. Panthers leadoff hitter Ethan Groves chased at an 0-1 splitter in the dirt. On the next pitch, Valenzuela froze Groves with a change-up that dropped in the strike zone for the first out.
After walking the next batter, Eddie Fines came up to the plate. Valenzuela threw a slider on the outside part of the plate, and Fines hit it off the end of the bat, over to the second baseman, Clint Dodson, to record the out.
“Throw them off with the fastball,” said Valenzuela. “I threw a slider, I was able to come back with a fastball, and that was my goal. They’re off every pitch.”
In the top of the fourth inning, Valenzuela was still dealing. As he kept getting groundball outs, starting with the Panthers, Jackson Norton. Valenzuela got Norton to roll over on a change-up hit to shortstop Diego Vasquez, who threw Jackson out at first base.
On a 1-0 count, Sacramento City’s Hayden Shoup leaned into a pitch that was over the plate to get on base. The home plate umpire called it a strike, and Shoup had to come back into the batter’s box. On the next pitch, Valenzuela got him out in front of a change-up that he swung and missed on for strike two. The at-bat ended with another groundout to the shortstop, Vasquez on another change-up. After an infield hit, Valenzuela got the Panthers Sam Marr to fly out into center field.
“[Sacramento City has] been swinging it well and playing well. It’s a really good team, really well coached, and really talented players. Will Valenzuela did it again, for a third quality start in a row,” said Head Coach Chad Baum. “Really efficient all three pitches for strikes, at all different counts, and the ability to control the hitters is what you want to do as a pitcher.”
In the sixth inning, Valenzuela continued his stellar performance. The first batter he faced was Sacramento City’s Cody Ferrante. Ferrante chased after a splitter that went into the dirt on the first pitch. On a 0-2 count, Valenzuela got Ferrante on a check-swing strikeout, with his change-up on the inside part of the plate.
Valenzuela ran into trouble. Fines started the rally with a hustle double to right field, as the defense was playing him to pull the ball. Valenzuela walked the next batter to put runners on first and second. The Panthers Shoup came up to the plate, and it looked like the ball was going to drop in for a hit. Hornets shortstop Diego Vasquez went out to shallow center field, chasing the fly ball down, and center fielder Vinny Hudson made a sliding catch for the second out.
Baum visited the mound. He had a discussion with Valenzuela before taking the ball from him and making the pitching change.
“[Baum] said, are you out of gas? And I said just a little. I didn’t know I was getting taken out. And then he took me out, but I was fine with it because Nico got out of the inning,” said Valenzuela.
Fullerton relief pitcher Nico Rodriguez came in and got Sacramento City’s Brenden Murphy to ground out to second baseman Dodson to get out of the jam.
Rodriguez finished off the game by throwing three shutout innings.
Another bright spotlight to the game was Fullerton’s Pone. The Utah Tech commit continues to shine in major moments. In the bottom of the third inning, with Fullerton leading 5-2, Pone stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. On a 1-2 count, Pone smoked the ball past the shortstop for a 2-run RBI single to left field, bringing home Carlos Barrios and Hudson.
In the seventh inning, with runners on first and second, Pone came up again, facing Panthers relief pitcher Chuck Snyder. After a wild pitch got past Sacramento City catcher Ben Kreizenbeck to advance the runners to second and third, Pone found a hole between third and short. As he hit the ball hard on the ground into left field for another 2-run RBI single, giving Fullerton an 11-2 lead.
“I wasn’t looking for anything specific. I was just sitting on a fastball and offspeed. If I’m early, I can hit the sixth hole. If I’m late, I can get it through the four,” said Pone.
Fullerton will once again host the Panthers at the Hornet Field on Saturday, Feb. 21, in a doubleheader. First game starts at 11 a.m., being seven innings, and that will be followed by a nine-inning game at 1 p.m.
