Baseball: Park Powers Rebels over Rio Hondo Prep

 The Flintridge Prep baseball team opened a three-game series against Rio Hondo Prep with a 14-7 win on Friday.

Rebels junior Royce Park threw six strong innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven. But had an even better day at the plate where he went 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs. 

“I relied on my fastball for most of the game,” Park said. “I threw a few curveballs with two strikes, but mostly fastballs.”

Rio Hondo Prep starter Dave Drain was effective for two innings, but faltered in the third when back-to-back doubles by Brendan McKiernan and Park scored two runs.

Park’s only struggles came in the third inning when the Kares’ Bao Tran led off with an infield single. Alex Hiroto bunted Tran to second base, but reached base safely when Park overthrew first.

Rio Hondo Prep apparently recognized a vulnerability to the Rebels defense because Jake Hanna bunted for a base hit to load the bases. Ryan Horton then squeeze-bunted Tran across home plate.

“Park really dominated us last year, so we knew runs would be hard to come by,” Rio Hondo Prep coach Mark Carson said. “We wanted to pressure the defense and force them to make plays.”

With runners at second and third Ryan Wiley attempted a bunt twice, but eventually struck out. Nick Preciado came through, however, with a line drive into left field, scoring Hiroto and Hanna. Preciado was thrown out trying for second base to end the inning, but his two-out knock gave the Kares a 3-2 lead.

“I wasn’t frustrated with their tactic of bunting,” Park said. “But because I threw a ball away, that allowed runs to score that shouldn’t have.”

Drain and the Kares ran into a nightmare fourth inning and their lead was short-lived. With one out and one on base, back-to-back fielding errors loaded the bases. Drain fell into a 3-0 count with the Rebels’ Kyle McDonald, who cracked a two-run double off the centerfield wall.

“We knew Drain would throw primarily off-speed pitches so we worked all week on hitting curveballs,” Flintridge Prep coach Buzz Cook said.

McKiernan followed with a run-scoring single, putting runners at the corners for Park. Park unloaded on a first-pitch fastball from Drain and the ball sailed over the centerfield wall.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything really,” Park said. “I just saw something I could hit and swung my hardest. It felt great.”

Park’s three-run homer gave Flintridge Prep an 8-3 lead it would not relinquish. The Rebels added three runs in the sixth inning behind another RBI-single by McKiernan and a two-run homer by Karlsen Termini.

The Kares’ advanced runners to second and third base in the sixth inning, but Park got out of the jam by inducing a groundout from Tran.

“I took Royce out after six because his pitch count was high and I’d like to have him available in tomorrow’s doubleheader,” said Cook.

Clayton Weirick worked the seventh inning for the Rebels, looking to protect a 14-3 lead, but it was hardly smooth sailing as Rio Hondo Prep scored four runs to make the final score more respectable.

“I’m happy with the win, but I’m not happy with how we ended the game, particularly with how we played defense,” Cook said. “Rio Hondo will make you pay for doing the small things wrong.”

Flintridge Prep will host Rio Hondo Prep in a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Glendale Sports Complex. The Kares’ remain ahead of the Rebels in the Prep League standings, but Saturday’s matchup will be pivotal in determining the playoff future of both teams.