POWER Down Dodgers in Haley’s Return

Palm Springs, CA—The POWER defeated the East L.A. Dodgers by a score of 8-3 on Tuesday as Zach Haley returned to the lineup after spending two weeks off the field, battling a dislocated finger.

The POWER scored the first two runs of the ballgame, tallying one in each of the second and third innings, the first coming as the University of Iowa’s Sean Flanagan crossed the plate on a groundout from Frankie Torres of Riverside City College, and the latter resulting from Haley’s heads up running after an error by Dodgers first baseman Jessee Weiss. The Dodgers scored in the fourth as Daniel Cohen drew a walk with the bases loaded, but Scott Simmons came in to relieve the left-handed starter, James Crockett, and quickly struck out Jeff Montenegro to end the inning. Simmons struck out five in his 3.2 innings, whilst allowing one run over four hits and three walks.

The Dodgers tied the game up as Jesse Weiss’ single brought in Spencer Augustine in the top of the fifth, but Simmons forced a ground out and a fly out to bring that half of the inning to a close. The POWER came out of the gates aggressively in the bottom of the fifth, as Justin Cureton drew a walk and moved himself to second with his third steal of the season. Chett Zeise knocked him in with a double before Haley smacked a single up the middle to extend the lead to two. After Marcus Romero flew out to right, Evan Boyd pushed his hitting streak into double digits with a double that allowed Haley to score. Haley was 1-for-3 on the night, reaching base four different ways: via a fielder’s choice in the third, that single in the fifth, a quick race to first on a dropped third strike in the sixth, and a walk in the eighth. The Liberty University senior also stole two bags in his first game since June 14th.

Palm Springs’ home team added some insurance in the eighth as a pickoff throw towards first went awry, allowing Ryan Jones to score as Frankie Torres hustled across the diamond to third. Justin Cureton then knocked in the Riverside City College junior with a double, giving the POWER their eighth and final run of the night.

Scott Simmons pitched brilliantly in relief, striking out five in his 5.1 innings of relief. The righty from Mt. San Jacinto College let just two runs cross the plate as the Dodgers scattered five hits against him while he walked none. Simmons’ second win of the year makes the POWER 18-3 overall, and 9-1 in conference.

The next POWER ballgame will take place here at Palm Springs Stadium tomorrow night (Wed. June 29) as the Azusa Pirates come to town on Dollar Admission Wednesday. Palm Desert High School graduate Nick Baker will take the hill for the POWER as they look to break into double digits in the conference win column.