Eastfield Retakes Control of League Lead

HIGHLIGHTS

DALLAS – Nick Lozano would not take no for an answer. As a result, it's a yes for Dallas College Eastfield.

Lozano, a sophomore reliever, struck out the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth inning, and then after allowing a hit and hitting a batter, Eastfield's closer retired the final batter in a 3-2 win at No. 5 Dallas College Richland Thursday. The win postured the fourth-ranked Harvester Bees back to the top of the Dallas Athletic Conference standings.

"If these aren't two of the best teams in the country, I don't know where they are," Eastfield head coach Michael Martin said.

Eastfield (38-10, 19-4 DAC) took a one-game lead over Richland (32-15, 18-5) in the league standings in a season where the two ball clubs have each perched themselves alone at the top. Game 3 in the series is set for noon Friday at Richland.

Lozano cleaned up a seven-inning start for Marcus Peters, who gave up five hits, a run and three walks, while fanning five in the win, by working the final two innings. Lozano gave up two hits, a run and a walk to earn the save.

"Honestly, I really just don't want to think about anything," Lozano said. "That's the mentality."

Richland scored first when Robby Lopez drove in Connor Haelzle in the second. Eastfield tied it in the fifth after Payton Poole singled to open the inning, advanced to second on Aubrey Whitehead's single, went to third on JJ Bush's sacrifice bunt, and scored on John Jackson's sacrifice fly.

Jackson singled and scored on Josh Vaughn's sacrifice fly to center. Billy Spratt also scored on Garret Hendricks' suicide squeeze one batter later to give the Bees a two-run lead.

The Thunderducks drew within a run when Jouseph Gelpi singled in the eighth and scored on Eimir Perez's suicide squeeze. But Lozano retired five of the last seven batters he faced, and Eastfield grabbed control of the league lead.

"Forget about the past, and keep moving forward," Lozano said. "The whole goal is to get to the end, and we're going to keep going as much as we can. Every win from now on is going to be ugly. It's good for our morale. Every win is up for us."

Six different Harvester Bees had a single. Haelzle was 2-for-3, becoming the only player with two hits.

Peters improved to 9-3 on the hill. His nine wins lead the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III. Tyler Do, Friday's scheduled starter, is tied for second with eight. Richland starter Bron Farr went the distance, allowing three runs, six hits and no walks, while striking out five.

But it was Lozano's presence during the clutch outs that reared the biggest impact.

"He came off the mound, and I said, 'You want it?'" Martin said, quizzing his closer. "He said, 'Yeah Coach, I want it. I want to finish it.' I said, 'OK, you got it.' We knew what we were getting out of that guy. He is a bulldog, and he's a guy who's going to go out there and compete."

Now the two teams will get another opportunity to compete again Friday in another high-stakes game.

"There aren't no questions about it," Martin said. "We've got to move on. We've got another game tomorrow. It's not football, where you have to wait seven days to kind of get some revenge. You can turn that thing around pretty quick. You've got to clear that slate, and move on to the next game. We don't want to get satisfied. We don't want these kids to think, 'Oh, we've won this series,' and go in there to this third game and coast. Every game's important."

First pitch Friday can't come soon enough.