Patient El Dorado Beats Cypress

It has not been a good week for the Cypress baseball team.

The sixth-ranked Centurions, already down after losing to Katella on Wednesday, watched their top pitcher, Travis Ingle, get battered by fourth-ranked El Dorado, 8-3, Friday at El Dorado.

Ingle played into the Golden Hawks’ hands. Before the game, Coach Steve Gullotti told his hitters to be patient against Ingle and try to make the junior right-hander throw a lot of pitches.

The plan worked well. Although Ingle (5-1) took a 3-1 lead into the fifth inning, courtesy of home runs by Joe Rafelson, Devon Reid and Rich Herrera, the junior right-hander’s only one-two-three inning was the fourth.

Otherwise Ingle--who struck out five but walked seven and gave up seven hits--had to work hard. In the first inning, he gave El Dorado (9-3, 5-0) a run by walking three and hitting a batter. By the fifth, already having thrown 73 pitches (99 for the game), Ingle was tired. The Golden Hawks broke loose for six runs, keyed by a two-run double from C.J. Rice, and a two-run single by winning pitcher J.P. Frid.

Cypress Coach Mark Steinert knew that Ingle was struggling by the fifth. “They had gotten deep in the count against him often,” Steinert said. “But to me, the difference in the game was when we had a chance to spread the score out against El Dorado, we couldn’t. When they had the chance to be productive, they were.”

“We know that Ingle is a very good pitcher who is capable of shutting down anyone,” Gullotti said. “But we also feel we have a good offensive lineup one through nine and we can score at any time.

“We’ve also come from behind several times this year, so the kids don’t panic when they get down.”

Especially Frid, who improved to 4-0 by pitching a six-hitter with six strikeouts and two walks. Only twice did he throw more than 13 pitches in an inning (95 for the game) and no more than 16 in any inning.

“I’m not a big strikeout guy anyway,” said Frid, who had allowed only one earned run before Friday. “I know we have a strong offense and defense. We never feel we’re out of a game, that at some point we’re going to score.”

In other Empire League games:

Katella 12, Kennedy 7--Junior right-hander Jon Lorenzen’s grand slam capped an eight-run first inning for Katella (8-4, 4-1). Lorenzen also picked up his second victory of the season. T.J. Jara hit a three-run home run in the fifth for the visiting Knights.

Loara 10, Century 0 (5, mercy)--Jacob Kungl had a home run and three RBIs for host Loara (4-7, 2-3). David Ortiz (three for four, RBI) struck out four and walked two for the Saxons.