A home run? A RBI? No, just a clean, much-needed line drive leadoff single up the middle on the first pitch to breath some life into his teammates. Junior rightfielder Nicko Lancaster, as he normally does, then executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Haile along, and junior shortstop Andres Rodriguez's grounder to short was thrown too low and went out of bounds to allow Haile to scamper home with the tying run.
Mr. Clutch Karl Perez, a senior centerfielder who had reached base twice already on base on balls, then cracked a single over the mound into center to score Rodriguez with what turned out to be a game-winning hit.
Rodriguez himself contributed a huge RBI in the third inning with his team behind, 2-0, poetically going the other way on a 2-2 outside pitch to bring in Lancaster, who benefited from a sky-enhanced double when his two-out fly ball to left was never picked up by the confused Warren player.
The Bears, who La Mirada dominated during off-season games, put on the heat early against the red-hot Matadores with a run in the first on the benefit of no hits. Petersen was wild with two base on balls and two hit batters, the final one resulting with bases loaded and just one out. Petersen, though, as he often does, sucked up the pressure and struck out the next batter before inducing an inning-ending fly ball to steady-eddie senior leftfielder J.T. Torres to limit the damage.
Warren increased its lead to 2-0 in the third on one-out, back-to-back doubles from the heart of its order. The Bears, after relinquishing the lead, weren't through as they put on a final push in the seventh inning with a leadoff hit-by-pitch, Petersen's uncharacteristic fourth of the game.
Coach Kim Brooks then called to the bullpen for Arizona-bound Poncedeleon, who had gone six innings Tuesday in securing the victory over Glenn. The hard-throwing QB1 then made his athletic presence known by hopping quickly on a sacrifice bunt attempt and wheeling and firing toward second to just nip the lead runner, a play he has determinedly made throughout the first half of the season.
A single to rightfield, however, put runners on first and second but the game ended on a high note when Haile, Rodriguez and senior firstbaseman Mike Piazza combined on the squad's third inning-ending double play in a row to complete the save for Poncedeleon.
Haile, in particular, led a fantastic, errorless game for the Matadores with six assists and two put-outs. Two of Haile's assists, in fact, were of the tough 1-4-3 variety when balls came glancing off Petersen's glove. Gold Glover Rodriguez also put in a fine game with the leather with eight chances.