Cruz’s bat, legs lift Rancho over Spring Valley
Rancho’s Mike Cruz did what an elite leadoff man does — he got on base and changed the game with his legs.
Cruz led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a would-be sacrifice fly that the right fielder dropped as the Rams escaped with a 4-3 home victory over Spring Valley on Saturday.
The win was the 18th straight for Rancho (20-2). Spring Valley fell to 11-7.
“The one thing we try to do is run the bases, and Mike and (Zak) Qualls and (Brandon) Pletsch at the top of the lineup gives us a lot of speed,” Rancho coach Tom Pletsch said. “Mike had two or three stolen bases today, and it puts a lot of pressure on the defense.”
After Cruz stole second in the seventh, Spring Valley intentionally walked Qualls to set up a double play. After the wild pitch, the Grizzlies intentionally walked Brandon Pletsch to load the bases.
Robbie Brewster struck out Rancho cleanup hitter Scott Koenen, but Kevin Kline hit a fly ball to right field. The ball was probably deep enough to score Cruz from third, but right fielder Tyler Kartler dropped it, and the game ended when Cruz scored.
Cruz was 2-for-4 with three runs and four stolen bases.
He reached on an error with one out in the bottom of the fifth to start a rally with the game tied 1-1.
Cruz stole second and third, and Brandon Pletsch walked to put runners on the corners with two outs. Brandon Pletsch broke for second, but Spring Valley second baseman Eddie Gomez cut off the catcher’s throw to second and caught Cruz off third.
Cruz got into a rundown and eventually scored after a Spring Valley defender was called for obstruction.
After Koenen walked, the Rams put on another first-and-third play. Koenen walked off the bag at first, and Spring Valley pitcher Anthony Novak ran him back toward the base. Pletsch broke for home and beat Novak’s throw to the plate to make it 3-1.
“It just puts pressure on people, and you never know what’s going to happen,” Tom Pletsch said. “And two first-and-third situations worked out to our advantage today.”
Qualls allowed one run on four hits through six innings before running into trouble in the seventh.
With one out, Qualls yielded a single to Dylan Drachler and walked Drew LaComb and Kartler to load the bases.
Eric Holdren relieved Qualls and walked Brewster to force in a run. Kenny Hartlauer then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game before Holdren struck out Jacob Schwartz to end the inning.
Qualls struck out nine, and Holdren went 3-for-3.
