The warm, early-summer sun shone down upon Scolinos Field in Pomona, where the Pirates met with the Legends for their first matchup of the year. A breeze cooled the field temperature and blew the flowers off the still-blooming Jacaranda trees in right field.
The Legends got their offense going in the bottom of the second with a leadoff double from Justin Cabada. On the next pitch, Moonhyeonn Eom laid an immaculate bunt down the third base line to move Cabada to third and get himself on with an infield single.
After a sac fly scoring Cadaba, Nathan Hellein came up and hit a deep drive to left that skipped off the top of the wall for a double, scoring Eom and extending the lead to 2-0.
The game became tranquil until it was the Legends’ turn to hit in the fifth. After two quick outs to start the inning, the Legends unexpectedly commenced a major rally. The Legends did not have to hit the ball hard or at all; they simply had to stand in the box as Pirates pitched, hit a shocking five batters, and walked another two.
The Pirates’ self-inflicted damage allowed the Legends to score four runs on a two-out rally in which they did not log a single hit.
On the other side of the ball, the Legends were spectacular. Rising freshman Gavin Reeve took the mound and dominated from start to finish. Reeve worked fast each inning, limiting Pirate traffic, momentum, and hard contact.
The ex-factor for Reeve was his utilization of his changeup, which created soft contact early in at-bats.
“I was able to get some early contact, and my changeup was working really well, so I just lived with it early,” said Reeve.
Reeve was so dominant that he took a perfect game into the third and a no-hitter into the seventh. Even after giving up the leadoff single that broke up the no-hitter, Reeve stayed composed and quickly got a pop-out and a double play to get out of the inning.
Over seven innings, Reeve allowed one hit, no runs, and two walks on only 75 pitches.
Reeve pitched extremely well, but he also benefited from the help of the stellar defense that made a myriad of miraculous plays behind him all day.
“Our defense showed up today. In Palm Springs, we had a total of 12 errors in two games, and we had zero today, so that really made a difference,” said head coach Matt Cordero.
The Pirates finally got multiple baserunners on in the eighth, but were only able to score one run on a wild pitch before being shut down.
The Legends answered the Pirates’ sole run in the bottom of the inning with a well-executed sac fly from Eom to extend the lead to 7-1.
Eom stood out today and has been one of the Legends’ most eye-opening players thus far.
“Moon has surprised me, he made some plays this last week that surprised me,” Cordero said. “He laid down a bunt early and came up with a big sac fly… He’s been a very productive player for us, and I look forward to seeing him the rest of the season.”.
Garret Halbiesen struck out the side in the top of the ninth to hold the Pirates to one lonely hit and end the game in just under two hours.
This was the Legends’ second win of the season after beating the Bucs earlier this week. Beating two conference opponents back-to-back was validating for the team after a tough start in Palm Springs.
“Honestly, they owned us last year, so it felt good… It was good to see that we can compete against both the Pirates and the Bucs,” Cordero said.
Both teams will play Friday, with the Legends in Palm Springs taking on the Power and the Pirates at Scolinos Field against the South Bay Saints.
Inland Valley Baseball Association 