Baseball: Edson Pitches Apaches Past Wildcats

On paper it wasn’t a great matchup for Monrovia. On the mound for Arcadia was KJ Edson, an All-CIF right-hander with a quirky sidearm delivery. In turn, the Wildcats threw sophomore Joe Mata, whose resume consisted all of just one career varsity start.

And though Mata gave a valiant effort through five-plus innings, the result was just about what you’d expect given the circumstances. Edson struck out eight and gave up three hits in seven shutout innings, and the Apaches edged the Wildcats 3-0 at Arcadia’s Giambrone Field on the final day of pool play in the Apache Invitational.

Arcadia advances to face Bonita for the tournament championship Wednesday at 7 p.m., while Monrovia plays Glendora at 1 p.m.

"(Edson’s) pretty good," Arcadia coach Nick Lemas said. "When he's throwing strikes and getting ahead of guys he's really tough. The only time he gets in trouble is when he gets behind, but that doesn't happen often. Nights like these, there's not too many teams that can beat him."

Edson gave up a leadoff single to Monrovia’s Nick Bueno in the bottom of the first, but the Wildcats were unable to turn Bueno’s hit into a sustained rally. Edson struck out the next two batters, jumping ahead in the count and locating his pitches on the inner half of the strike zone. Edson’s command would remain the theme of the game as he overpowered the Wildcats by pounding away at the hands of Monrovia’s batters.

Edson’s inside-out style is not something that hitters encounter very often at the high school level, and the Wildcats never appeared to get comfortable inside the batter’s box. Only one Wildcat reached as far as second base (Bueno in the first inning), and Edson retired the final 11 batters he faced. 

“He’s not an easy kid to hit because you don’t see a guy like that that throws from that style,” Monrovia co-coach Brad Blackmore said. “He’s very efficient. He throws a lot of strikes early in the count, so you’ve got to be ready.” 

That being said, Blackmore thought his team had a good strategy at the plate against Edson. It wasn’t so much a matter of Edson completely dominating the Wildcats, Blackmore said, it was his pitching combined with a little bit of bad luck.

“We didn’t score, but I can’t complain at all about our approach at the plate,” Blackmore said. “We were trying to get these guys to keep their shoulder on against him and to hit the ball hard through the middle of the field and the other way — and we were doing it. It was just right at guys, and they made all the plays.”

The Wildcats’ bad luck extended to their defense as they committed a number of miscues that directly resulted in runs for the Apaches. Arcadia’s Brandon Benson and Brendan Campbell led off the top of the first with back-to-back singles and then advanced into scoring position on a balk from Mata. Benson then scored on a wild pitch to give the Apaches a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth, the Apaches benefitted from another Monrovia (8-6-1) gaffe. Benson began the rally with a routine fly to right field, but the ball was dropped by the Wildcats’ outfielder and Benson stood at second base with no outs. Benson advanced to third on another wild pitch and scored the Apaches’ second run of the game on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Campbell.

The Apaches (11-2) tacked on one final insurance run in the sixth when junior third baseman Drew Klein singled home Brendon Toy.

All three runs were charged to Mata, who gave up three hits and four walks but managed to avoid serious trouble.

“It’s not an easy task when you’ve got a sophomore pitcher that has had one start in his life in a varsity game — on the mound, at least — and you’re facing a guy on the mound who’s a returning All-CIF pitcher,” Blackmore said. “You’re not going to be the favorite in the game, I don’t care who you are. I thought Joe hung in there very well.”

While the Apaches successfully manufactured those three runs, they left a few more on the table. Arcadia stranded eight runners on base for the game, included two in first, second and sixth innings.

"We're not the most offensive team around, but we have some speed," Lemas said. "We were able to take advantage, steal bases so that way we don't have to bunt. We're not going to get a ton of hits, but we're going to be able to run the bases and put pressure on the defense and force them to make errors, hopefully.”