Baseball Smudge Pot: San Dimas beats rival Bonita for the first time since 2007

San Dimas starting pitcher Peter Lambert (C) throws to the plate against Bonita in the fourth inning of a prep baseball game at Bonita High School in La Verne, Calif., on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. (Keith Birmingham Pasadena Star-News)

San Dimas starting pitcher Peter Lambert (C) throws to the plate against Bonita in the fourth inning of a prep baseball game at Bonita High School in La Verne, Calif., on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. (Keith Birmingham Pasadena Star-News)

By Stephen Ramirez
steve.ramirez@langnews.com
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter
LA VERNE —
Bonita High School may have won the football and basketball Smudge Pots, but the baseball version of the traditional rivalry game between the Bearcats and San Dimas was painted Saints blue and gold Wednesday night.
Peter Lambert hit a two-run home run in the first inning and was steady on the mound and visiting San Dimas beat its rival for the first time since 2007 with an 9-4 victory in the teams’ traditional game.
San Dimas, also getting two RBIs each from Logan Muratalla and Jonathan Longtin, improved to 4-2. Lambert gave up six hits and struck out nine for the Saints, who are ranked No. 2 in CIF-Southern Section Division 4.
Bonita, getting two hits from Justin Gomez, slipped to 4-2. The Bearcats are ranked No. 6 in Division 3.

The game was all but decided in the first after San Dimas took advantage of an error to score four runs in the first inning. Daniel Millwee led off with a single and Josh Avila reached on a fielding error. Elias Orona sacrificed both to second and third before Muratalla singled home both runners for a 2-0 lead.
Lambert, who had two hits and scored run, then made it 4-0 with a home run to left field.
San Dimas pushed it to 7-0 after three innings, scoring a run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Avila and two in the third on a RBI single by David Vargas and a hit by pitch to Jesse Garcia with the bases loaded.
Bonita came back to cut it to 7-3 in the third. Chris Lopez walked before Ethan Muro and Gomez had back-to-back singles to load the bases. Alex Gonzalez singled to make it 7-1. A fielding error in the outfield on the hit scored Muro and Gomez to make it 7-3. Lambert then struck out Nick Peifer to end the threat.

San Dimas’ Peter Lambert: “It’s huge. It’s a school rivalry and I don’t how long its been since we beat them, but it’s been a while. It’s huge.”
Bonita coach John Knott: “Our kids know to play all the way to the last out. They did a good job of that.”

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email