BELLFLOWER — After dropping the rubber match of a three-game series, St. John Bosco baseball coach Andy Rojo chose a positive reinforcement approach with his team Friday knowing a meeting with first-place Orange Lutheran awaits at the end of the regular season.
“OLu is 6-3, so technically we’re just two games back of first place, right, with two series to go,” Rojo told his players after the Braves lost 7-2 to visiting Mater Dei in Trinity League action.
Bosco (14-6, 4-5 Trinity League) struggled defensively, committing four errors, while Monarchs starting pitcher Brandon Thomas tossed six scoreless innings.
Mater Dei (14-7, 4-5) ,winners of seven of its last eight games, scored three runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to give Thomas a cushion.
Thomas, who scattered five hits, struck out two and hit two batters, credited the performance to getting ahead in counts, mixing in his off-speed pitches and trusting the defense behind him.
“Just work with my infield and trust them,” Thomas said. “A lot of fastballs were working early, fastballs for strikes. I was laying in my curveball a lot. For this game, especially with some good left-handed hitters on (Bosco), we wanted to utilize the changeup a little bit more so we mixed in a lot of those. Kind of iffy on it, but I landed it when I needed to and got a strikeout when I needed to.”
Thomas kept the Braves off the board early in the third, escaping a jam with a runner on third and one out. He struck out Macade Maxwell and Noah Everly, Bosco’s No. 1 and 3 hitters, and worked around plunking Jaden Jackson.
Thomas allowed just one base runner past second base over his final three innings.
“We’ve seen (Thomas) before, and his off-speed, his breaking ball was thrown for strikes, outer-half pitch,” Rojo said. “He was in the zone so that’s what made him effective.”
Thomas also started the Monarchs’ rally in the fourth, roping a double to right field and scoring the game’s first run on a passed ball that got away from Braves catcher Micah Taguiam.
T4: Mater Dei leads 1-0 on this passed ball that scored pitcher Brandon Thomas from third @johnwdavis @BeachVarsity pic.twitter.com/kqy7n0viTL
— Tracy McDannald 📎 (@Tracy_McDannald) April 12, 2024
Dylan Wetzel and Braden Ruiz added back-to-back RBI doubles to push the lead to 3-0.
In the fifth, Bosco’s defense then struggled to field a bases-loaded squeeze bunt by Mater Dei right fielder Austin Palmares. Braves starting pitcher Anthony Cosme hit Palmares on the throw to first, allowing two runs to score.
Bosco unsuccessfully argued Palmares ran out of the basepath.
T5: This squeeze bunt by Austin Palmares one out and the bases loaded scores two, pushes the Mater Dei lead to 5-0.
Bosco unsuccessfully argued that the throw that hit Palmares running to first was interference. @johnwdavis @BeachVarsity pic.twitter.com/4xvSzZfNhn
— Tracy McDannald 📎 (@Tracy_McDannald) April 12, 2024
Wetzel, who reached base three times, tacked on an RBI single to chase Cosme after 4.2 innings. Cosme allowed six runs — five earned — on six hits, struck out four, walked one and hit a batter.
In all, 15 batters came to the plate between the two innings.
“I think we saw (Cosme) was kind of mixing a lot of off-speed pitches and our guys could sit on the breaking ball a bit more the second time through (the lineup),” Mater Dei coach Richard Mercado said. “It was kind of our game plan, to sit on curveball and look for mistakes that he was making with it. Getting him in the stretch really helped our guys out. I think he likes to work fast.”
Another Bosco error in the seventh pushed the final Mater Dei run across.
“The coaching staff is going to continue to believe in these guys,” Rojo said. “Nothing’s gonna change, but obviously we need to play cleaner baseball.”
Trailing 7-0, the first three Braves hitters reached base against Monarchs relief pitcher Ryan Iveson.
A fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly to right field by Zach Woodson produced two runs, but Iveson ended the threat and the game with a strikeout.
“We actually out-hit them today 7-6,” Rojo said of the late rally. “So you’re constantly looking for positive things. … I thought we played really well that last inning, a chance to score some runs.”
Bosco will now look for help from Mater Dei, which starts a three-game series at Orange Lutheran beginning Tuesday. The first two games will be in Orange.
The Braves, who have been outscored 16-2 in a two-game skid, will play JSerra in a three-game series starting Tuesday. The middle game on Wednesday will be played in Bellflower.
“We still control our destiny,” Rojo said.
