St. Francis Errors Prove Costly, 10-3

It was not difficult for St. Francis High pitcher Paul Gomez to identify the turning point in the Golden Knights’ 10-3 baseball loss to El Segundo on Wednesday night.

“We’re a young team and, if it wasn’t for the errors, I think it would have been a 3-3 tie,” said Gomez, one of two seniors on the team.

Gomez’s analysis would seem correct.

Visiting El Segundo capitalized on three errors to score seven runs in the San Fernando League game at Brookside Park in Pasadena.

El Segundo, the Southern Section 2-A Division runner-up last season, improved to 23-4, 9-0 in league play, and clinched its fourth consecutive league title and 20th since 1960.

St. Francis, which entered the game in second place, lost its third in a row to fall to 10-10, 6-3.

The teams will meet Friday in the league finale at El Segundo. Despite the loss, St. Francis is assured of a berth in the Southern Section 3-A playoffs as the league’s No. 2 representative.

“We still had a shot to win the title . . . there is still reason to come out and play on Friday,” St. Francis High Coach John Yakel said.

El Segundo took a 3-0 lead in the first inning after St. Francis left fielder Brew McGoldrick misjudged a two-out fly ball by Lawrence Norris. Two runners scored on the error and Norris scored the third run of the inning on a single.

“Gomez pitched well, well enough to win,” Yakel said. “It’s just that the one error cost him and caused him to overwork and throw too many pitches.”

El Segundo’s Matt Gangawere (9-1) threw a three-hitter to pick up the victory. Sophomore center fielder Armando Mesa had two of the three hits Gangawere surrendered and scored twice.

Mesa belted a leadoff triple in the first inning and scored to cut the deficit to 3-1, but El Segundo pushed across two more runs on three consecutive doubles in the second to extend its lead to 5-1.

Gomez (5-4), who suffered his first loss in five league decisions, did not allow another run through five innings. The Golden Knights closed to 5-3 with a pair of fifth-inning runs.

“I never got in the groove,” Gomez said. “My control wasn’t there. I was up in the strike zone and they hit it.”

El Segundo put the game out of reach with five runs in the final two innings, three coming after Orlando Cepeida bobbled a fly ball.

“St. Francis swung the bat well,” El Segundo interim Coach Craig Cousins said. “They will play better defense on Friday. We’re not expecting to go 10-0.”

El Segundo was playing its first league game in 32 years without head coach John Stevenson, who remains hospitalized after suffering a heart attack Saturday.