Truman Pauley gets a strikeout to end the top of the fourth inning.
Mustang Blue players celebrate after the final out of their 6-1 victory.
Jack Gurevitch talks about his home run and the win against Santa Monica.
Jack Gurevitch hit a towering two-run home run to right-center field in the fifth inning and Truman Pauley pitched a complete game for the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association‘s Mustang Blue All-Stars, who opened the PONY Section tournament with a 6-1 victory over host Santa Monica on Friday evening at Los Amigos Park.
Santa Monica had defeated Blue decisively at Cheviot Hills early in the tournament season, but the rematch was a different story. Pauley didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and got rock-solid defense behind him.
Skyler Chang‘s sacrifice fly in the first inning scored Andrew Citron to give Blue a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Gurevitch and Wylie Wallin hit back-to-back singles and Jack Bowden tripled to the center field wall to make it 3-1. In the fifth, Marty Kaplan singled home Chang and Gurevitch’s homer clinched the victory.
Santa Monica had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the sixth, but Pauley induced a grounder to shortstop, struck out the next batter looking and got the game-ending out on a fly ball to center. Pauley threw 94 pitches and finished with four strikeouts.
Blue plays either East Long Beach B or Torrance American at 5 p.m. today while the PPBA’s Mustang Red team takes on East Long Beach A. If both Palisades teams win, they will play each other for the championship Sunday.
Also on Friday, Tucker Kupfer went two-for-two, Jack Dyett had three hits and Ian Wertlieb had an RBI triple but the PPBA’s Bronco 12U All-Stars lost 12-7 to Los Alamitos’ B team Friday and play East Long Beach A in an elimination game at 3 p.m. today at Smith Park in Pico Rivera.
— Steve Galluzzo
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