Chaminade Breaks Four Game Losing Streak With 6-1 Win Over University

Chaminade-Madonna’s offense scored early and then held on for a convincing 6-1 District 15-3A win over the University Suns yesterday afternoon.

The victory may have been keyed by a quick, eleven pitch, 1-2-3 top of the first, turned in by Lions starter Chris Flores.

“We tend to give up a couple of runs early in the game,” said coach Paul Herfurth. “and that kind of puts us on our heels. So to go 1-2-3 in the first today, was huge for us.”

In the bottom of the first, four of the Lions’ first six batters stroked hits and when the smoke cleared, they were up 3-0 after one inning.

Single tallies in the second and third upped the score to 5-0 Chaminade.

The fourth turned out to be Flores’ only rocky frame. Even though he recorded a pair of strikeouts, he was roughed up by a Manny Silveira single and Sebastian Diaz’s RBI double to the left-center field gap.

Manny Rodriguez drove in the Lions final run with the teams fourth two-bagger of the afternoon, closing out the scoring at 6-1 after five complete.

Flores got stronger as the game went on, retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced. The junior pitcher issued only one free pass while holding University School to just four hits in a complete game performance.

“Getting them out in the first inning without giving up any runs was very important, because that’s where I’ve had a lot of problems,” said Flores. “I was on today. I had good command of my breaking pitches and my fast ball. I was very happy with the win, especially because it was a district game.”

Herfurth was equally as pleased with his junior’s performance.

“His best pitch is his curve ball, which he can bury on the back foot of right handed hitters,” said coach Herfurth of his southpaw hurler. “He’s got very, very good stuff, but he’s been a little inconsistent with his command in the past. If he can just continue to be consistent, he’s as good as anybody around.”

The victory ended a four game skid for Chaminade and put them back over .500 at 6-5 overall with their first district win.

Offensive standouts for the Lions were Matthew Wagener, Keith Oren and Manny Rodriguez, each of whom went 2-for-3, while Frank Duffin went 2-for-4.

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