Tag: san diego waves

Waves beat Legends to clinch playoff berth

Max Suckley

The most consequential CPCL game of the year took place on Wednesday at Scolinos Field in a winner-take-all matchup between the Inland Valley Legends and the San Diego Waves. 

Both teams had their aces on the mound, with the Legends starting Gavin Reeve and the Wave starting Peter Knorr. 

San Diego came ready to play, scoring two runs in the first inning behind four singles and a double. 

The Wave matched their first-inning success in the next frame, scoring another two due to a rough defensive error from Inland Valley. 

On offense, the Legends couldn’t get anything going. Despite boasting one of the more impressive lineups in the CPCL, Inland Valley struggled to figure out Knorr. 

The Legends did have a chance in the first inning after getting two runners on with no outs, but they ran into an out at home after a passed ball bounced straight off the backstop back to the catcher. There was still a runner in scoring position, but the next two batters struck out. 

After the first inning, Knorr made quick work of Inland Valley and faced the minimum five times in his next six innings. 

The Wave defense was excellent, turning two textbook double plays behind their starting pitcher. The infielders were very active as Knorr only struck out three batters out of the 21 outs he made. 

Knorr’s final line was seven scoreless innings with two hits and one walk. Knorr lowered his season ERA to a team-best 1.45 and got his WHIP down to an incredible 0.78. 

After the first two innings, Inland Valley’s pitching and defense settled in and put up five consecutive scoreless frames. The Legends turnaround kept Inland in the game, but the offense still needed to wake up.

San Diego added a fifth unanswered run in the eighth as insurance. Inland Valley finally responded with a rally, but they were only able to get one run before stranding runners on second and third. 

After their squandered comeback attempt, it became clear that the Wave would go on to win and clinch a berth in the CPCL playoff. 

The Legends finish the CPCL regular season in third place, a great improvement after coming in last place in 2023. The Legends are followed by the Bucs in fourth and the Pirates in fifth. 

San Diego will take on Palm Springs, who lost their first game of the year late on Wednesday night against the Bucs. 

The Wave and the Power will play game one on Saturday in Palm Springs at 7 PM.

Pirates split doubleheader with Waves

Max Suckley

The Pirates left the Inland Valley for the second time in a week to kick off their first two contests of their five-game series against the San Diego Waves. 

The Wave hosted the doubleheader in Escondido, where they play at Escondido High School.

The field is the smallest in the CPCL by a wide margin, and in game one it helped the Pirates to a 4-2 win. 

Inland Valley had to fight back from a deficit early in the game due to a controversial missed call from the field umpire who had his back turned when a San Diego hitter missed first base on a triple. 

If the umpire had followed the play like he was supposed to, the runner would have been called out, and the Wave would have been held scoreless in the first. 

San Diego took advantage of an error and a lead-off double in the third to add another run. 

If not for an error and an umpiring blunder, Pirate starter Alex Chavez could have had a scoreless outing and potentially pitched longer. Even with the misfortune, Chavez was excellent, pitching five innings and only allowing one earned run. 

Anthony Vasquez took over for Chavez and continued the momentum by striking out three batters in two scoreless innings. 

On the other side, Inland Valley was able to start chipping away at the Wave lead. A single from Chad Green got one run back in the fifth. 

In the sixth Cole Coniarsky, hit a deep fly ball to center giving Connor Green enough time to score from third and knot the score at two. 

The Pirates’ steady momentum continued into the seventh inning when Evan Evitia smoked a line-drive home run to center field to take the lead. 

Connor Green ambushed San Diego in the eighth, crushing a lead-off home run to dead center to give Inland Valley some breathing room. 

With six outs left to get, the Pirates called in flamethrower Chad Green. 

Green was impressive, only allowing two baserunners in a scoreless two-inning save. 

Game two was an uphill battle for the Pirates as they struggled to piece enough pitching together. 

The offense helped the pitching out by scoring a run on a first-inning RBI from Diego Orozco.

Unfortunately for Inland Valley, San Diego responded with a run of their own in the first, which was unearned due to another Pirate error.

Garrett Patterson made a lot of hard contact again and finally put a ball into the gap for a leadoff double in the third, though he was not driven in.

The Wave lineup finally broke out in the third inning, scoring two runs, though one was unearned. San Diego continued its success into the fourth, scoring three more runs to make the score 6-1. 

Orozco added a second RBI with two outs in the fifth, but the Pirates were not able to cash in any more runs.

Patterson threw two clean innings to stop the bleeding, but Inland Valley was not able to get the offense rolling as it did in game one and they fell 6-2.  

After splitting the doubleheader in Escondido, the two teams met up again Tuesday in what would be a 20-2 mauling by San Diego.

The Pirates and Wave will face off again Saturday for another doubleheader, this time in the Inland Valley at Azusa Pacific. 

Though the Pirates are coming off a demoralizing loss, they still have the chance to win the series against San Diego if they can take both games on Saturday. 

Game one is scheduled for 1 PM, and game two will be at 4 PM.