Home Runs Propel Gulliver Prep Past LaSalle

LaSalle starter Mike Matheis handcuffed Gulliver Prep for four innings Saturday before the Raiders capitalized on a big inning to win 5-2 in the adidas Diamond Bash.

Gulliver Prep (2-0) hit two two-run homers in the fifth to go ahead 4-2. One of the long balls was by leadoff hitter Henry Hernandez, whose dinger landed just over a makeshift fence in right field that was erected to block off a large puddle. One any other day, the homer probably would have stayed inside the park. Davis Brown, who got on with a base hit, also scored on the homer. Joseph Dunand also homered in the fifth, scoring Oscar Marchena, who singled.

Hernandez added another homer in the seventh to cap the scoring.

“It was a team effort,” Hernandez said. “Davis Brown got a base hit. It really sparked the team, got everyone going. It gave us momentum, and then I got the first home run. And we just started rolling from that.”

The big fifth for Gulliver overshadowed a strong pitching performance by LaSalle’s Mike Matheis, who allowed just one hit through the fourth.

“He dominated. He did a great job for five innings,” LaSalle coach Oscar Benitez said. “The Gulliver lineup is always good. You have to be careful with them. To play seven innings against them is always tough, and we didn’t get enough quality innings to win this game.”

Gulliver coach Javier Rodriguez said Matheis “was very good. He was mixing it in and out, throwing his curve ball for strikes,” Rodriguez said. “We got an 0-2 ball over the right-field fence, and that got us going. Next guy gets a hit and then the next guy hits a laser over the left center-field fence. That inning was big for us.”

Alex Garcia’s double in the first inning brought home Nick Canino and Mike Avila, both of whom had singled, to give the Royal Lions a 2-0 lead. But that was all they could muster for the rest of the game as Javier Lopez and Lucas De La Cruz combined to allow six hits.

“I thought our pitchers did well for us today,” Rodriguez said. “First inning, we gave up a couple of hits back to back with two outs, but other than that, I thought we threw the ball really well.”

With three games under their belts so far this season, Benitez identified areas the Royal Lions need to improve on.

“Our defense has been good. Our pitching has been good. Our hitting is still not there,” Benitez said. “We swing at too many bad pitches, and we take too many good ones. We’re not taking advantage of other people’s mistakes. We need to really focus on two things: our lineup being more consistent and our mental toughness. We need to lock in for seven innings to be able to beat these better teams. Down the line, in the playoffs, we’re going to need to play seven strong innings to compete.”

Hernandez said the Raiders have to do better as well.

“We really to work on getting better starts,” Hernandez said. “We always start off slow. First and second inning, we may not even get a hit. We just need to get on the team quicker, to not let them get comfortable, let them feel our presence.”

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