The number 18 seed East Aurora baseball take on the number 15 seed, Metea Valley to open post season play in the regional quarterfinals. These two teams met up last year in the same round with Metea coming out on top, 14-4. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Metea Valley gets the bats going early
Matt Reilly batting for the Mustangs as Julian Casteneda is pitching for the Tomcats. Reilly hits a pop fly and reaches on an error by the first baseman before advancing to second.
Connor Lavery singles on a line drive out to right field as Reilly gets the first score of the game for the black and gold.
With one out in the bottom of the first, Metea’s Anthony Tardif is next up at bat. Tardif hits a sac fly to Tomcats Daniel Hugnes as Lavery reaches home plate. After the bottom of the first, Metea jumps out to a 4-0 lead.
Caleb Allen deals on the mound for the Mustangs
In the top of the third, Mustang pitcher Caleb Allen shows off his arm and gets all three outs by strikeout.
In the bottom half of the inning, Metea’s Owen Goeb hits a grounder towards Tomcat third baseman Adrian Urzua who throws it to Cristobal Ruiz, avoiding the Metea score. Ruiz throws it to first base, finishing off the double play.
Moments later, Armaan Shah singles on a ground ball towards left field as Ethan Singer and Carter Behrns both reach home plate, extending the Metea Valley lead to 8-0 after three innings of play.
In the top of the fourth, East Aurora’s Ivan Cardoza tries to check up his swing but makes contact as the Mustang pitcher surveys his options before overthrowing third base, allowing Emmanuel Diaz to reach home plate to get the Tomcats on the board as they trail 8-1.
Metea puts the game away late
To the bottom of the fourth, Owen Goeb singles on a line drive towards left field as Michael Willhite and Carter Behrns meet up at home plate, extending the Mustang lead to 11-1. Armaan Shah, Matt Reilly and Connor Lavery add RBI’s later in the inning to push the Mustang total to 14.
Caleb Allen closes out a strong performance, putting the game out of reach with his third strike out of the fifth inning.
Metea Valley baseball gets the regional quarterfinal win over East Aurora, 14-1 in five innings. The Mustangs will take on number two seed Lockport in the regional semis.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page.
