By John Honell
Charter Oak’s baseball team stayed in the thick of the Hacienda League race, scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Chargers a 4-3 win over West Covina on Tuesday afternoon.
Ronnie Parham singled with one out in the sixth inning. One out later, starting pitcher Andre Henson hit a wind-blown double to left field to drive in what proved to be the winning run.
“That was a Charter Oak comp,” Chargers coach A.J. Garbick said. “He faded one up into the wind there and we’ll take it.”
The Chargers (7-7, 4-1) won their fourth consecutive Hacienda League game but had to come from behind fto do it. Henson struggled with his control, giving up two runs to the Bulldogs in the top of the first before the Chargers bounced back.
“Coming back like that was huge,” Garbick said. “When we get down, we’re down. Being able to respond was big, especially going into the last round of league play.”
Parham singled to lead off the first for the Chargers. Jerid Petrick laid down a sacrifice bunt. Henson singled and Robert Owen followed with a sacrifice fly. Dino Miranda doubled to drive in Henson with the tying run.
“I felt like I got a brand new start,” Henson said. “It took a while to find my release point but my teammates picked me up, which allowed me to relax.”
Andrew Sanchez singled and Justin Torres walked to lead off the game for the Bulldogs. A sacrifice, a ground out and a single by Andy Carillo brought both runners in for a quick 2-0 lead.
“We’ve been getting on teams early,” first-year Bulldogs coach Kevin Pigott said. “We kind of back them into a corner, then we let up and allowed them to get back in the game.”
The Chargers took a 3-2 lead in the third inning, taking advantage of back-to-back hit batters and a two-out single by Brett Clemetson.
“Once (Henson) got his off-speed stuff over and got his release point, he pretty much dominated for the rest of the game,” Garbick said. “He got us through six innings, then we had to skate out that last inning.”
Henson, who has signed with Cal Poly Pomona, gave up three hits and struck out seven for his second win of the season.