WHITTIER – Visiting Liberty broke a tie with runs in the fifth and seventh innings to knockout La Serna 6-4 in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 baseball playoffs on Tuesday.
With the win, Liberty (13-11) will play Elsinore, a 5-3 winner over Bishop Montgomery, in Friday’s quarterfinals.
The Lancers, who were hoping to get to their second quarterfinal in the last three years, finished 16-13.
Leading the Lancers was junior third baseman Isaac Lopez Del Haro, who was the only player with multiple hits. He was 3 for 3 with a run scored.
“When you’re in a game like this, it’s a dog fight,” Lopez Del Haro said. “Both teams went back and forth. That’s a great team out there and they got the hits when they needed them. At the end of the day, we didn’t and it will kill you in the long run.”
Junior shortstop Ryan Barraza had a single and two RBIs and a run scored for La Serna and junior pitcher Gibson Laracuente had a double and scored a run.
A crucial moment for La Serna came in the fifth inning with the Bison leading, 5-4, and the bases loaded and one out. The final two batters struck out and the Lancers went quietly in the seventh.
“I’m super proud of the guys,” longtime Lancer coach Anthony Gonzales Jr., said. “We were down pretty much the whole game, and we kept coming back.”
Gonzales, Jr. was referring to the 3-0 lead by the Bison in the first inning. The Lancers rallied to tie the score 4-4 in the fifth inning, but could never surge ahead.
“(Lopez Del Haro) has been solid for us all year long,” Gonzales, Jr. said. “A couple plays here and there, and you know what, that’s baseball.”
Leading the way for Liberty was senior catcher Austin Cholodenko, who was 2 for 2 with two scoring fly balls and junior first baseman Alex Arteaga with two hits and two runs scored.
Liberty opened the game with a three-run first, which were aided by two errors, a run-scoring single by senior third baseman Riley Vogt and a sacrifice fly by Cholodenko.
The Lancers answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, to trail, 3-2.
La Serna junior centerfielder Adrian Dominguez led off with a single to right. After an out, Laracuente also singled. Two batters later, junior shortstop Ryan Barraza hit a two-run single to right.
“We left some runners on but that’s baseball, it happens,” Laracuente said. “I love these boys, and we had a great season, and we fought and stayed in it.
“We have a lot of juniors here with only one senior in the starting lineup and we’re going to come back next year and get better and have a great year.”
Liberty added another run in the third to extend its lead to 4-2, but the Lancers answered the next inning with two runs to tie the score, 4-4.
Barraza was hit by the pitch to open the inning, which was followed by infield hits by Lopez Del Haro and sophomore right fielder Xavier Becerra to load the bases.
Single runs came across on an infield out and a scoring fly ball from sophomore left fielder Grady Long.
The Bison broke the tie in the fifth with a sacrifice fly by Cholodenko, to lead, 5-4.
The crucial sixth inning for the Lancers came with the bases loaded and one out.
With one out, Lopez Del Haro collected his third hit, which was followed by a walk to Becerra and a single to left to fill the bases.
However, Liberty winning pitcher David Kirk struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
The Bison added an insurance run in the seventh to lead, 6-4.