Dos Pueblos starting pitcher Josh Tedeschi earned his 10th win of the season on Friday.
Josh Tedeschi pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this season on Friday, leading the Channel League-champion Dos Pueblos baseball team into the CIF Division-2 second round after a 3-0 decision over visiting Laguna Hills.
Tedeschi, a left-handed junior, improved to 10-1 on the season while throwing six-plus innings of two-hit ball. After Laguna Hills’ leadoff batter walked in the top of the seventh, Erik Olson was brought on to record the save.
Dos Pueblos’ Anthony Spiritosanto slugged an RBI double – the game’s only extra-base hit – on Friday.
Olson induced a double-play ball to erase the base-runner and a weak infield pop-up to end the game.
The Chargers scored two unearned runs in the first inning and added an insurance run in the fourth inning with an RBI double by Anthony Spiritosanto.
“It seems like everytime I pitch we get a few in the first inning and that just boosts my confidence so much,” Tedeschi said. ” It really helps to know that we already have a lead and even if I give up one or two runs we’re still ahead, so it’s really helpful.”
Tedeschi gave up six walks and struck out five. He got the start because his repertoire resembled a pitcher that Laguna Hills had just faced in the wild-card round without much success.
“(Laguna Hills) struggled against a lefty for Glendora, that’s why we went to Josh and Josh pitched a great game for us,” said Chargers head coach Nick Katzenstein.
“He’s progressed a lot and we’re really happy with his performance today and his performance throughout the year.”
Dos Pueblos, winners of 12-straight games, will face Empire League champion Cypress in the second round. Cypress beat Irvine 5-1 to improve to 22-8.
The Chargers scored their first two runs with only one hit in the first inning. Dustin Demeter was hit by a pitch and was joined on the base paths by Nolan Soto thanks to an error. Dylan Rohde’s single drove home Demeter and Soto took home on another error by Laguna Hills.
Tucker Snider scored DP’s third run while pinch-running for Soto. Spiritosanto drove the first pitch he saw to the left-center field gap for an RBI double to score Snider.
Laguna Hills’ Noah Anderson was 1-for-1 and reached base in all three plate appearances. Nick Cotton and Lucky Zuvich added hits for the Hawks, who finish their season with a record of 18-14.
