Nova Improves To 5-2 In District With Win Over McArthur

To open the 2013 season the Nova Titans have played seven straight district opponents, the last of which being McArthur on Tuesday night.

It has been a challenging stretch, and at times the Titans young offense struggled.

But on Tuesday night the bats woke up in a big way to lead Nova to a 14-4 win over the Mustangs, in a game played at Pat McQuaid Field at Nova High.

The 14 runs scored matches their total over the previous five games for the Titans (5-3), who improve to 5-2 in District 7A-16.

“It’s a challenge. Seven straight district games puts a lot of pressure on us,” Titans junior Nick Martinez said. “We can’t get down in this district, so we have to keep playing our best. We have to keep hitting and getting into a groove and everybody has to be hot for these games.”

Nova overcame an early 2-0 hole with back-to-back five run innings in the second and third innings to open a big lead they would not relinquish.

Benefitting from a plethora of free passes, the Titans capitalized on their scoring chances with big hit after big hit whenever runners were on the bases.

“They had more walks than they had runs,” Mustangs Manager Brian Clark said. “We walked 14 batters, and we’re not gonna beat a team like Nova when we do that. That is 100% the reason why we lost.”

The Mustangs (3-6, 2-5) came into the contest with some injury issues, especially in the bullpen. Things got even worse for the team after their starter, Kevin Lopez, left the game in the second inning with shoulder problems.

“We’ve got a couple of pitchers who are banged up. But the next guy has got to step up,” Clark said. “It’s a big district game. We hit the ball decently at the beginning, but we just walked too many guys.”

The second inning was the turning point of the game, as Nova sent 11 hitters to the plate and went up by three after trailing coming into the inning.

Junior first baseman Brandon McCalla lined a single through the right side of the infield to score courtesy runner Joey Fiorentino to get things started. Three batters later Cole Habig delivered a dagger with a looper that sailed over third base and into the left field corner for a two-RBI double.

Kyle Pangallo came up with another two-RBI double in the third, and Gabriel Valverde and Lewis Rodriguez also added RBI doubles in the game.

McArthur jumped out to a lead early on, as Kevin Rosario led off the game with a single up the middle, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt from K’Lani Martinez and then scored when Javier Aguilar scorched a liner up the middle to bring the speedy Rosario around third and home.

Aguilar had a two-run home run in the third inning, and finished 2-for-3 to lead the McArthur offense.

Lopez added an RBI single in the top of the second to score Brian Rodriguez, who reached base on a wild pitch after striking out.

This same scenario occurred in the fourth inning to set up a rare baseball occurrence, as relief pitcher Nick Martinez picked up four strikeouts in the frame.

“As a pitcher, you’re just focused on throwing strikes,” Martinez said, admitting he was completely unaware of the feat until he reached the dugout and his teammates told him. “They told me they had ever seen that before, but I just went out there and threw strikes and things happened.”

After setting down the leadoff hitter on a called third strike on a fastball, Martinez got the next batter swinging. But the putout pitch bounced past the catcher, allowing the runner to reach first base. But the lefty Martinez responded with another called putout followed by a swinging third strike to complete the baseball rarity.

Martinez (4-0) retired nine consecutive batters while tossing 34 of his 51 pitches for strikes in his three and two-third shutout innings of work to close it out and earn the victory.

He allowed just one hit while striking out seven.

Although he knew he was coming into the game Tuesday, Martinez admitted he was surprised that he took the hill as early on as he did. But once he toed the rubber he felt at home, and he was pleased that his coaches let him work the rest of the way.

“It’s good that Coach has that confidence in me,” Martinez said. “He’s not putting pressure on me. He’s saying it’s your job and just go out there and do it. When things get in a groove it feels great.”

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