Sports

Do or Die: Viewpoint, Minus Ace Pitcher, Looks to Advance in Baseball Playoffs

Viewpoint Baseball: Tyler Sprague is resting his arm today in a second-round playoff game against visiting Desert Christian.

The dream is still alive for baseball team, as the Patriots are hoping to eventually win a Southern Section championship.

So far, so good after opening the Division VI playoffs with a 5-4 win over Rio Hondo Prep, but there is still a long way to go.

Viewpoint (20-5) plays host to Desert Christian of Bermuda Dunes at 3:15 p.m. today at Birmingham High in Van Nuys, and the Patriots are still without ace Tyler Sprague, who is resting his pitching arm.

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“We’re going to play it safe. I’m a little sore, and we don’t want to risk it,” said Sprague, a left-hander who is 5-2 with a 1.31 ERA but has been limited to five innings over the past three-and-a-half weeks.

The good news is Viewpoint has all the confidence in the world in right-hander Alex Pachino (5-2, 3.55 ERA), who got the save against Rio Hondo Prep.

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“It’s an exciting time,” Pachino said. “The playoffs is what we work up to, and now every game could be our last, so that’s what’s exciting. We’re all coming together pretty well.”

Viewpoint has won 13 of its past 14 games.

“With Alex pitching, we should be fine,” Viewpoint coach Frank Pontello said. “It should be a pretty good matchup, and we’ll see how it goes. Viewpoint is a pretty well-rounded team. We didn’t hit the ball real well against Rio Hondo, but we’ve been hitting the ball well all season, so hopefully it was just one of those days.”

The winner advances to play Friday in the quarterfinals against the Capistrano Valley Christian-Windward winner.

By then, Sprague’s arm should be OK.

“I think our goal is definitely to win a CIF championship, and I think we have a really good chance if we keep doing our thing, day in and day out,” Sprague said. “We’re taking things one game at a time. This is the best Viewpoint team we’ve had, the strongest since I’ve been here, so we’re ready to do some damage.”

Alex Markun is batting .475 with two home runs, 21 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. Some of Viewpoint’s other top players are Ryan Nelson (.438, four triples, 20 RBIs), Alex Leon (.444, 26 runs) and Aaron Twersky (.429, 15 RBIs).

A young, seniorless team that includes nine freshman and sophomores and four juniors, Desert Christian (17-6) has won 14 of its past 15 – including a 44-1 win over Redlands Adventist that pumped up everyone’s stats – and overall the Conquerors are averaging 12 runs with a team ERA of 3.50. Nathan Lowen is batting .435 with 31 RBIs, and Morgan Earman is 5-1 with a 2.15 ERA.


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