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Area rivalry ignites again
Baseball: Intercity adversaries CV and St. Francis meet in nonleague game at Stengel Field.
By Dylan Kruse
NORTHEAST GLENDALE — With both the Crescenta Valley and St. Francis high baseball teams jockeying for position in their respective league races, Saturday night’s rare late-season, nonleague matchup offered the clubs a chance to stay sharp before the final week of action.
Crescenta Valley is currently locked in a stalemate with Arcadia for first place in the Pacific League, while St. Francis, despite being in last place in the Mission League, is just a game out of the fourth and final playoff spot.
On Saturday, it was the Falcons who gained some momentum by capitalizing on key St. Francis errors to score four early unearned runs and never look back in a 7-2 victory at Stengel Field.
The Falcons pounded out 10 hits on the night, with seven different players tallying a knock.
It was a welcomed sign for a Crescenta Valley offense that had been struggling of late, including being one-hit in a 6-2 loss to Burroughs last week.
“We were kind of slumping a little bit the last two games, but everybody came out and hit tonight so that’s a good sign for the next two games coming up,” said Falcons shortstop Kris Kauppila, who went two for four, scored two runs and drove in two runs.
For St. Francis, which dropped its eighth straight game, errors and timely hitting have been lingering issues all year long and it played out that way once again.
After Lonnie Kauppila, who finished two for three with two runs batted in, brought in brother Kris Kauppila with a sac fly in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, three straight St. Francis errors allowed the Falcons the load the bases in the second inning.
Crescenta Valley (16-5) was quick to take advantage.
Kris Kauppila ripped a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-0 and Crescenta Valley wasn’t done.
After Nathan Honda scored on a wild pitch, Lon Kauppila laced an RBI single to right field for a 5-0 Falcons lead they would never surrender.
“You take away the second inning and you just play catch, it’s a 3-2 ballgame, maybe 2-2 depending on the situation,” said St. Francis Coach Brian Esquivel, who got two hits out of third baseman Andrew Yu. “But you are right there in it.”
St. Francis was able to get one of those runs back in the third after Scottie Morrow, who went two for four, belted a triple and was brought home on a Jeff Johnson RBI groundout.
But the Golden Knights (12-13) were never able to piece together their seven hits into a big inning against Falcons pitchers.
Jacob Hoogenhuizen, who scattered four hits, went four innings to pick up the win while Sean Elliot came in out of the bullpen for the three-inning save.
Both pitchers were beneficiaries of stellar defensive plays behind them.
“We have one of the best defenses in the league,” Elliot said. “If we give up a couple runs here and there our offense is going to come in and help. When we hit our spots and not try and blow it by them, we just let the defense make some plays.”
The Falcons, who got two hits from Matt Ashby, were able to tack on two insurance runs in the fifth thanks to four straight singles from Travis Feldman, Brandt Bowers, Nathan Honda and Zack Torres, the team’s No. 6-9 hitters.
The quartet at the bottom of the lineup set up Crescenta Valley’s sluggers at the top of the lineup, reaching base in 10 of their combined 12 at-bats.
“The bottom of the order’s doing great right now,” Lonnie Kauppila said. “We’re just trying to put the ball on the ground more. Lately, we’ve been trying to pull everything, hit everything out and now we are just using the field to our advantage.”
In the sixth, Ramiro Carreon singled, stole second base and scooted around to score on Nick Gentili’s double to left center for St. Francis’ final run.
Both teams resume league play on Tuesday, with Crescenta Valley hosting Hoover at 7 p.m. at Stengel and St. Francis traveling to Franklin Field to take on Harvard-Westlake at 3:45 p.m.
Crescenta Valley is currently locked in a stalemate with Arcadia for first place in the Pacific League, while St. Francis, despite being in last place in the Mission League, is just a game out of the fourth and final playoff spot.
On Saturday, it was the Falcons who gained some momentum by capitalizing on key St. Francis errors to score four early unearned runs and never look back in a 7-2 victory at Stengel Field.
The Falcons pounded out 10 hits on the night, with seven different players tallying a knock.
It was a welcomed sign for a Crescenta Valley offense that had been struggling of late, including being one-hit in a 6-2 loss to Burroughs last week.
“We were kind of slumping a little bit the last two games, but everybody came out and hit tonight so that’s a good sign for the next two games coming up,” said Falcons shortstop Kris Kauppila, who went two for four, scored two runs and drove in two runs.
For St. Francis, which dropped its eighth straight game, errors and timely hitting have been lingering issues all year long and it played out that way once again.
After Lonnie Kauppila, who finished two for three with two runs batted in, brought in brother Kris Kauppila with a sac fly in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, three straight St. Francis errors allowed the Falcons the load the bases in the second inning.
Crescenta Valley (16-5) was quick to take advantage.
Kris Kauppila ripped a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-0 and Crescenta Valley wasn’t done.
After Nathan Honda scored on a wild pitch, Lon Kauppila laced an RBI single to right field for a 5-0 Falcons lead they would never surrender.
“You take away the second inning and you just play catch, it’s a 3-2 ballgame, maybe 2-2 depending on the situation,” said St. Francis Coach Brian Esquivel, who got two hits out of third baseman Andrew Yu. “But you are right there in it.”
St. Francis was able to get one of those runs back in the third after Scottie Morrow, who went two for four, belted a triple and was brought home on a Jeff Johnson RBI groundout.
But the Golden Knights (12-13) were never able to piece together their seven hits into a big inning against Falcons pitchers.
Jacob Hoogenhuizen, who scattered four hits, went four innings to pick up the win while Sean Elliot came in out of the bullpen for the three-inning save.
Both pitchers were beneficiaries of stellar defensive plays behind them.
“We have one of the best defenses in the league,” Elliot said. “If we give up a couple runs here and there our offense is going to come in and help. When we hit our spots and not try and blow it by them, we just let the defense make some plays.”
The Falcons, who got two hits from Matt Ashby, were able to tack on two insurance runs in the fifth thanks to four straight singles from Travis Feldman, Brandt Bowers, Nathan Honda and Zack Torres, the team’s No. 6-9 hitters.
The quartet at the bottom of the lineup set up Crescenta Valley’s sluggers at the top of the lineup, reaching base in 10 of their combined 12 at-bats.
“The bottom of the order’s doing great right now,” Lonnie Kauppila said. “We’re just trying to put the ball on the ground more. Lately, we’ve been trying to pull everything, hit everything out and now we are just using the field to our advantage.”
In the sixth, Ramiro Carreon singled, stole second base and scooted around to score on Nick Gentili’s double to left center for St. Francis’ final run.
Both teams resume league play on Tuesday, with Crescenta Valley hosting Hoover at 7 p.m. at Stengel and St. Francis traveling to Franklin Field to take on Harvard-Westlake at 3:45 p.m.
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