Aztec junior Garret Kriske had his strongest day on the mound this year, giving up just one hit and one walk in a 4-1 victory over Estancia/Costa Mesa in Palm Desert’s CIF playoff opener.
Kriske allowed just one unearned run, while striking out eight over his seven innings.
The Eagles simply had no answer for Kriske’s fastball, which was registering unofficially in the upper 80s.
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“I thought we played good defense and pitched really well.” Aztec manger Darol Salazar told patch.com. “It was one of Brooks’ better games. That one inning, we hit the ball well, but then as we got the lead, I think he let us get ourselves out.”
The inning Salazar noted was the second, in which Palm Desert got to soft throwing Estancia right-hander Tyler de la Pena. The Aztecs tagged him for a walk, followed
by three consecutive doubles to lead off the inning. Palm Desert would go on to score four runs while hitting through the order.
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De la Pena would allow just two hits the rest of the game.
“That one inning, we hit the ball well,” Salazar said. “But then as we got the lead, I think he let us get ourselves out. We didn’t have quality at-bats.”
In the second inning, Kriske lead off with a walk. Senior Kaz Halvich bounced a one-hop double off the left field fence, sending Kriske to third. Second baseman John Schuknecht also rocketed a double off the base of the left field wall, scoring Kriske and Halcovich.
Cody Kabeary followed with a double to center, bringing J-Schu home, and a two out single from Senior Ryan Garvey brought Kabeary in for the Aztecs’ fourth and final run.
Palm Desert, the #1 seed in the Division 4 playoffs, will face either Covina or La Salle on Tuesday.
