In retrospect, it’s kind of ludicrous they didn’t charge for this one—in the second round of the CIF playoffs, trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and nobody on, the Lakewood Lancers…won.  A three-run two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh tied it, and Tyler Leidholdt’s walk-off single drove in Tyler Schultz for the winning run in the eighth, giving the Lancers an improbable 5-4 win over Riverside Poly. 

Give Bears pitcher Dylan Stuart credit—he pitched a complete game on Thursday to put Riverside Poly in this second round, and he was brilliant for 6.2 innings against Lakewood, with 10 strikeouts when the rally started, including three to start the game in the bottom of the first.  Stuart also struck out the first two Lancers batters in the bottom of the seventh, sending a few fans out to their cars…and then, the wheels came off. 

Inside the Lancers’ locker room, there’s a sign on the wall that reads: “Two outs? So What!”  Lakewood coach Spud O’Neil may have held the pregame talk underneath it, because his team obviously absorbed the message.  With a rowdy Lakewood crowd making a lot of noise, Stuart walked J.P. Crawford.  Then he walked J.P. Yakel.  Then he walked Hunter Jones.  Then he walked Jeff Yamaguchi, to give Lakewood a run.  And then Anthony Razo ripped a single right up the middle, scoring two to tie the game at four, and unleashing a wild celebration in the bleachers. 

It didn’t surprise O’Neil, but the patience of Lakewood’s batters was incredible—they were one bad swing of the bat away from the end of their season, and they just kept sitting on it.  That trend continued in the bottom of the eighth, as Tyler Schultz took a bean on the back on Stuart’s first pitch.  Jimmy Gosano’s bunt popped up, but the Bears’ catcher overthrew first and moved Schultz to second; he moved to third on Zach Alofaituli’s hit.  Stuart intentionally walked Crawford to load the bases, with just one out—and Leidholdt erased the suspense with the walk-off single that sent Schultz sprinting towards the CIF quarterfinals.

“I was very proud to be in this one,” said O’Neil after the game, while accepting the congratulations of family, friends, and fellow coaches.  “Razo and Leidholdt are such clutch hitters.”

Schultz did a great job crowding the plate to draw the bean in the eighth, further rattling Stuart and, more importantly, getting himself on base.  “At that point, I knew we were just looking for base runners.”

And Leidholdt picked a heck of a time for what he said was the first walk-off hit of his life.  “Seriously,” he said, “I never had a game-winning hit before…but I had to do it.  No way I was not getting that hit—this is my family.”

Credit also to Lakewood’s pitching staff and defense for getting out of some jams—even one more run allowed in the first six-and-a-half innings could have put the game too far out of reach for the rally.  But the sophomore Shane Watson was still relatively in control as the starter, even without his best stuff.  He hit the first batter of the game, then Schultz picked him at second trying to steal.  Then Watson walked the second batter, but got the third to hit into a double play (one of two for the Lancers).  Watson walked three and gave up two hits and one earned run in four innings of work, and Matt Padilla and Darren Gidley were excellent in relief, giving up two runs in the top of the sixth, but getting the third out with two runners on.

All in all, it isn’t the most incredible comeback in Lancers history (as anyone who saw the 2006 CIF title game knows), but given how well Stuart held the local boys down for 6.2 innings…well, it’s pretty unbelievable.  Asked where the comeback ranked in his decades of coaching the Lancers, a grinning Spud O’Neil said, “It just keeps getting better.”

Lakewood will travel to face Mater Dei on the road in the quarterfinals on Friday.