SUBURBAN LEAGUE BASEBALL: Lopez, Norwalk stymied at home again, John Glenn goes on rare hitting barrage

By Loren Kopff

For Norwalk baseball head coach Ruben Velazquez, it has been looking more and more like Groundhog Day whenever his team is hosting a Suburban League opponent. For the third time in as many home starts in league action, senior pitcher Johnnie Lopez was the victim of either no run support or poor defense behind him.
Lopez and his Lancers fell to John Glenn 2-0 last Thursday, the fourth time Norwalk has lost a home league game. Lopez has been the pitcher of decision in two of those games, not getting any run support and only six hits combined from his team. The loss also kept the Lancers (9-9 overall, 3-5 in the league) from staying tied with Artesia for fourth place in the circuit.
“That’s all you need in this game; to come out with a little bit of heart and want to win,” Velazquez said. “You can’t win on paper. You have to show up to play.”
Based on paper, one would think Norwalk would have somewhat of an easy time against the Eagles who entered the game on a six-game losing streak and having scored six runs during that span. In fact, Glenn (5-13, 2-8) had scored 35 runs and produced 87 hits entering last Thursday’s game. But the Eagles peppered Lopez and two other pitchers to the tune of 14 hits, second most this season.
“We played a tough game with them on Tuesday,” said John Glenn assistant coach Kevin Barr. “We left some runs on the field. We felt like we could get a win [today] if we could just play well, play smart and play together. We told the seniors this is their last shot at Norwalk.”
Barr coached the final half of the game following an ejection to head coach David Cruz in the middle of the fourth inning. The visitors from the east side of the city got to Lopez in the third when senior right fielder Alex Sanchez was safe on an infield single with two outs. Following a single to left field from senior pitcher John Lemos, Sanchez would come home on a single from senior designated hitter Ruben Gomez.
That would be enough for Lemos, who was making his first start of the season. After walking sophomore left fielder Jesse Rodriguez to begin Norwalk’s half of the first, Lemos retired 12 of the next 14 batters he faced. Lemos allowed four hits, walked one, struck out four and had only one runner reach third base. He improved to 3-0 on the season and was the fourth Glenn pitcher to go the distance.
“We felt we would roll the dice today and let him go and he was nails out there,” Barr said. “There was maybe one ball hit hard all day. The guys played hard behind him and he mixed up his pitches. He kept the middle of their order off the base paths which was huge.”
Despite scoring just two runs, the Eagles constantly put pressure on the Norwalk pitchers, collecting at least one hit in six of the seven innings but putting runners on base in every inning. Barr said the team spent 90 minutes in the batting cages the day before. However, Glenn also stranded 11 runners.
In the top of the fourth, senior catcher Octavio Trejo reached on one of three Norwalk errors. Then junior shortstop Edgar Hernandez reached on another error and Glenn was looking to add to its lead when sophomore second baseman Rene Gayton sent a fly ball to left field. Apparently Cruz thought Rodriguez had trapped the ball while diving forward. But the field umpire called it a catch and it would lead to a rare triple play much to the chagrin on Cruz, who argued but to no avail.
“A triple play is pretty exciting,” Velazquez said. “If that doesn’t light this team up, then I don’t know what does. I just don’t have an answer for the inconsistency. Coming off of that Mayfair win, I thought that was the spark to turn the season around and finish off the season strong.”
The Lancers were hoping to feed off of the defensive gem and were looking to tie the game when junior catcher German Vasquez led off the bottom of the fourth with a single and stole second. But he got stranded there. In the next inning, Lopez had an infield single, went to second on a sacrifice from senior shortstop Skyler Bautista and to third on a single from sophomore second baseman Anthony Gonzales. But two pitches later, Rodriguez failed on a bunt attempt which resulted in a double play.
Glenn scored its second run in the sixth on four straight singles, the last from Gayton plating senior pinch runner Juan Rojas. Sanchez went three for four for the Eagles while five other players had a pair of hits. The Eagles, who played four games in the St. Paul Tournament earlier in the week, are off until they host Bellflower on May 10 in the final week of the regular season. The Lancers, who were also in the St. Paul Tournament, will visit Cerritos on Wednesday. After the home and home series with the Dons, Norwalk will wrap up the regular season with La Mirada. Artesia began this week at 3-3 in league play as the Pioneers host Cerritos today. Norwalk split its home and home series with the Pioneers but owns the run differential tiebreaker should the two finish tied at the end of the regular season.
“In their eyes, they set the plan as spoilers,” Velazquez said of his city rivals. “I don’t see any quit [in Glenn].”