By Peter Day
Senior Reporter
The Lucerne Valley Mustang team is on a roll.
Coached by Brandon Barkley, the Mustangs are now 5-2 overall and 1-0 in Agape League play. But its their sheer dominance over recent opponents that has been impressive.
On March 15 in Victorville, the Mustang baseball team crushed Cobalt Institute of Math & Science Academy by a score of 29-2. Lucerne Valley blew the game open with a 19-run first inning. Numerous players got into the action. The high scoring continued with a seven runs in the second inning. A lone run cam in the fourth inning for the Mustangs, which brought their total to 29.
The host team of the non-conference game scored its two runs in the first inning. Contributing to the overwhelming victory by Lucerne Valley were 10 errors by Cobalt. The Mustangs had three.
Matt Rodriguez was named Lucerne Valley's player of the game. He scored four runs with six at bats for a .833 hitting average. He also had six runs batted in.
Riley Moreno, a junior, scored four times, Jacob Carmona, also a junior, had three scores, senior Zack Mejia had three, Jacob Kleber and Kendrick York both scored two and Satoshi Ogawa came to the plate once.
Two female players, junior Araselly Diaz, and freshman Bekah Hart, also saw action in the game. Both had one at bat but didn't get a hit.
Then, on March 24, the Mustangs took on Bethel Christian. The result: a 19-0 rout, with a 10-run fifth inning. Again Matt Rodriguez came up big and was named player of the game.
The Mustangs had an overall hitting percentage of .393 with Rodriguez getting three hits over five at bats. He scored four times and had two runs batted in.
But fellow senior Jacob Kleber also had an outstanding game, batting .800, having four hits on five at bats and scoring three times.
Others scoring were Jacob Carmona, coming to home plate twice, Riley Moreno scoring once, James Sausser scoring twice, Zack Mejia scoring twice, and Alfonso Sanchez scoring once.
The team's two female players, Araselly Diaz and Rebekah Hart, also performed well. In fact, Diaz, a junior, hit .500, got one hit, scored three times and had two at bats. Hart got an RBI and scored once.
Lucerne Valley baseball was scheduled to play at Apple Valley Christian on Tuesday, March 29 and then go against Victor Valley Christian on Thursday.