Bonanza strikes early, blasts Foothill again in prep baseball

Foothill’s baseball team entered Friday’s game looking for revenge after an opening-day drubbing at the hands of Bonanza.

The Bengals quickly erased those thoughts of retribution.

Bonanza scored five runs in the first inning and rolled to a 19-4, six-inning win over the host Falcons.

“We knew they’d be chomping at the bit for revenge,” said Bonanza coach Mike O’Rourke, whose team beat the Falcons 13-0 on March 5. “High school kids are high school kids, and they think we beat them the first time so we can just cruise through. We wanted to really stress that they’re going to be looking for revenge, so I was really pleased with the approach that we had offensively from the get-go. That was pretty impressive by our kids.”

Chris Dunn put the Bengals (6-2) on the board with an RBI single to right field. Hunter Junge followed with an RBI double, and Eric Schultz had a two-run single up the middle to make the score 4-0. After two strikeouts, No. 8 hitter Luis Lares delivered an RBI single to right center to make it 5-0.

Bonanza starter Kyle Ming did a good job of pitching with the cushion. He needed just 63 pitches to get through five innings against the Falcons (3-5), who had won three of their previous four games. Ming allowed three earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts.

“That’s the name of his game is strikes,” O’Rourke said. “That’s what he does, and that’s what we preach. He goes out there and challenges guys and keeps the ball down. We don’t have anybody that’s going to be overpowering and punch out a bunch of guys.”

The Bengals got solid production throughout their lineup. All nine starters had a hit, and 14 players either scored a run or had an RBI. Five pinch hitters delivered RBIs in the team’s 10-run sixth inning.

“We don’t rely on one guy,” O’Rourke said. “That’s the thing right now and why we’ve been experiencing some success. It’s just not one or two guys; it’s been up and down the lineup, and it’s been all year. That’s a positive. Kids have been really buying into what we’ve been talking about, and it’s showing in the way that they’re playing. I just hope we can continue.”

Schultz was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and Lares drove in three runs for the Bengals. Levi Klump scored four runs for Bonanza.

“By no means are we close to being a perfect ballclub,” O’Rourke said. “The start is nice. It gives us some confidence. But there’s obviously some things we need to improve upon.”

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.