Baseball Bounced by Banning

Early on against Bell, it looked like history might repeat itself. Last spring, the Palisades High baseball team was seeded sixth and was upset 1-0 by 11th-seeded Banning in the first round of the City’s upper division playoffs. This year’s Division I postseason opener was shaping up much the same way. After plating three runs in the second inning on singles by Phillip Joseph and Julian Achez and a double by Brad Schaeffer, seventh-seeded Palisades watched the visiting 10th-seeded Eagles storm back with four runs to take a 4-3 lead in the third. Then, the Dolphins suddenly came alive, scoring for seven runs in the fourth inning and the bullpen shut out Bell (24-8) in the final three frames of a 11-4 victory last Wednesday afternoon at George Robert Field. “We swung the bats well [in the first game] and did a good job of adjusting to what the pitcher was throwing us,” Palisades Head Coach Mike Voelkel said. On Friday, the Dolphins (17-11) traveled to Wilmington to take on second-seeded Banning in the quarterfinals. Palisades scored a run in the first inning on a leadoff single by Dylan Jeffers, another single by Cary Jacobson and a bloop to left field by Josh Korn and maintained the lead until the fourth, when the Pilots (22-8) scored twice to go ahead for the first time. The Dolphins tied the game again in the sixth when Jeffers led off with a single and scored on Joseph’s two-out hit but Banning answered with four runs in its half en route to winning 6-3, bringing an abrupt end to Palisades’ season. Sam Wasserman hit a RBI in the seventh, scoring Schaeffer. Voelkel was particularly proud of Achez. The Dolphins’ ace pitcher threw complete game and gave his team an opportunity to win. “We played pretty well defensively for the most part but we couldn’t stop rallies when we needed to,” said Voelkel, whose team is 43-2 in Western League play over the last three seasons. “As the game wore on I think they [Banning] started to gain confidence that they could come back and win it.” Achez, who is headed for Pierce College in Woodland Hills to continue his baseball career, was named first team All-Western League at third base, Nick Poulos was named first-team All-League at pitcher and Josh Korn was voted a first-team All-League outfielder. Phillip Joseph made the All-Western League second team at first base, Cary Jacobson was selected second-team catcher and Chase Holmes was named a second-team outfielder. Julian Harrison was chosen the league’s Freshman of the Year.