For several members of the Serra baseball team, preparation for Tuesday’s Del Rey League game against Bishop Montgomery was different.
Instead of arriving at the field in time to go through a normal routine, some had to rush toward to the field after completing the SAT.
“It was long,” Serra shortstop Marc Emmerman said of the test. “We showed up 10 minutes before game time.”
The start time was moved back to 3:45 p.m., and after falling behind early the Cavaliers regrouped, led by CJ Hughes on the mound, for a 10-4 win.
Hughes went 6 2/3 innings for the win.
He was one of the players who took the SAT and he had to face another test in the first inning. Bishop Montgomery (8-13-1, 2-7) loaded the bases with two outs and pushed across two runs for the early lead.
In the third inning, Serra (8-10, 3-6) sent 10 batters to plate, scoring four runs to take a 5-2 lead. Emmerman and Terrance Sullivan each had two-run doubles.
Earlier in the inning, Bishop Montgomery thought it had escaped the inning as Cam Protivo dived for a sinking drive by KJ Romero. However, after the umpires met to discuss the play, it was ruled a hit, keeping the inning alive.
“Hitting the ball hard in play,” Emmerman said of the offensive approach. “In the beginning of the year, it was more weak contact and a lot of strikeouts, but we’ve kind of reduced that and we’ve seen some results.”
Hughes ran into another tight spot in the top of the fourth. With the bases loaded, Bishop Montgomery’s Brody Cuellar came up in a big spot. Cuellar leads the Knights with five home runs. Hughes got him to fly out to center to end the inning.
“I think I had a good game, for the most part,” Hughes said. “Could have lessened the walks, stayed in the zone more, but overall, a good day.”
In the sixth inning, Serra put the game away with Amari Hackett’s three-run double. Serra drew nine walks against three Bishop Montgomery pitchers.
“We were debating who we wanted to throw today, knowing our playoff situation going into next week, we have depth, but CJ did exactly what he needed to do,” Serra coach AJ Perry said. “He had a rocky first inning and after the first inning, he settled in and cruised.
“I tell my guys we need to put more balls in play to make the other team make plays and I think we did that … When we get on, we can run a little bit, move guys over and like I tell them we have to be able to execute the little things …the little things matter and will make the different, especially in a league like ours.”
The teams will meet again Thursday at Bishop Montgomery.
In other games Tuesday:
WEST TORRANCE 6, CALIFORNIA 0: The Warriors (16-7) scored five runs in the first inning and the pitching duo of Dylan Smith (five innings, nine strikeouts) and Agena (two innings, five strikeouts) combined for a one-hit shutout.
Reef Sharman, Cameron O’Neil, Cristian Hernandez and Ethan Hsu had two hits apiece for West.
