Vista wins series but drops finale to Ponderosa, 7-5

Vista del Lago won the first two games of the Ponderosa series so they had the series wrapped up before Friday's series finale, but the Eagles were feeling a little greedy and were hoping to win all three games. With a 4-0 lead after three innings, the Eagles were in control of the game, but they imploded and allowed Ponderosa to score seven runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and lost the game, 7-5. "It's not what we had planned," Vista coach Jim Bazor said. "It's just baseball. You give up a couple of free 90s, and a couple of balls drop in there the right way and the next thing you know it's a tie game." Vista scored one run in the first inning when Asher Taylor hit a one-out triple and then scored on a Ponderosa error. In the second inning, Vista was back at it with three runs. DJ Kubik reached on an error and Connor Gastelum and Logan Shamblin hit back-to-back singles which scored Kubik. Nat Ha later was safe on a throwing error by Ponderosa's shortstop allowing Gastelum and Shamblin to score to put the Eagles comfortably in front, 4-0. The lead didn't last, unfortunately for the Eagles, as the Bruins scored seven runs over three innings off of Vista starter Jacoby Jones and reliever Michael Nicosia. Vista was able to get one run back in the sixth inning when the Eagles loaded the bases and Ethan Rhee hit a sacrifice fly to score Ha, who had his third hit of the game with a single earlier in the inning. On Thursday, Vista led 5-0 heading into the top of the seventh inning before the Bruins rallied to tie the score. The Eagles eventually won the game in the ninth when Ha walked, advanced to second and third on wild pitches before scoring on Russell Snyder's double. In the series opener on Tuesday, Vista blanked the Bruins, 7-0, as pitcher Jack Ellis struck out six and allowed only one hit and one walk. Offensively, Rhee had a huge offensive game, as he blasted two home runs and drove in five of Vista's seven runs. Kubik and Snyder drove in the other two runs. "We try to win every series so we did that," Bazor said. "It was important that we got Cromwell and a couple other pinch-hitters in there, as we're trying to get ready for Bella Vista next week. They're right there with us and I think we need to win that series to finish in third place all by ourselves. "Our goals were to win league and win 20 games and we're close to that. We're in every game; we're not getting beat badly. We've got a chance to win every game in the seventh inning."