You didn’t need to see the whole game at Blair Wednesday afternoon between the Cabrillo Jaguars and the Wilson Bruins to see the story of the day, and perhaps the season: Tommy Nance is looking healthier by the week, and the Wilson Bruins, who started a disappointing 1-3 in league, could be poised to make a run through the second half of the season. On the strength of Nance and a great team hitting performance, the Bruins dominated the first half of the game, winning easily, 13-1.
Bruins head coach Andy Hall seemed happy to have Nance, who saw his most extended time of the season after sustaining a spinal fracture, back on the bump. “It’s nice to have him back out there, it’s a different defensive feel when we have a guy throwing strikes like that.” Hall, like a good coach, cautioned against taking too much away from the win, however, saying, “We still have to get right with the other guys throwing, and establish some defensive consistency. We just need to play better baseball.”
Against Cabrillo, his Bruins scored in each of the first four innings (and had every starter reach base at least once), as Cabrillo committed an error in each as well—but it was the return of Nance, who easily did away with a Cabrillo squad that posted 7 runs against Jordan last week, that turned heads. Through the first four innings, Nance saw twelve runners, and retired them in order, with ten strikeouts and of course no hits. He even impressed a few Dirtbags who wandered in: when they saw him, one player gaped and said, “Look at how big that pitcher is.” If he’s back and stays healthy, he could be pretty big this year indeed.
The first inning provided the margin of victory, as Wilson got the scoring going quickly—Cabrillo starter Ramiro Rosalez walked Bruin Sean Buckle, then hit Tanner Perkins to put men on first and second. When Buckle stole third, the throw from home was high, bring him in to score while Perkins advanced to third. Cody Harris’ single brought Perkins home, and after a double play, Chris Hubbard had a 2RBI double, scoring Lester Salcedo (who reached base on an error) and Blake Cooper who was walked. Rosalez battled as best he could, but couldn’t finish the Bruins—he put two strikes on each of the first three batters, only to see all three come home; in four innings of work he allowed eight runs on eight hits.
Martin Agredano’s single for the Jags in the sixth loaded the bases, but Nance’s replacement Kyle Ritter struck out Robert Moncada to end the inning; Luis Tarrazas scored for the Jags in the sixth, when a bad pick throw to first brought him in from third. Jags coach Erick Bryant was disappointed in his team’s defensive performance. “The errors killed us the whole game—we had nine errors to their thirteen hits. You’re not going to win a game like that.”
Wilson improves their league standing to 2-3, while Cabrillo falls to 1-4; the Bruins next face Compton this afternoon, while the Jags will get a bye before playing Poly on Tuesday, April 21st.