PALM SPRINGS, CA – Edgar Gomez came on in relief to record a six-out save and clinch the Palm Springs POWER’s (38-6) second consecutive SCCBL title, defeating the Long Beach Legends (36-18) 4-3 on Wednesday night at Palm Springs Stadium.
The Legends got out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second, but Palm Springs responded in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single by Anthony Torres and a sacrifice fly by Rich Seigel to tie the game at 2-2.
The game stayed tied until the fifth inning when POWER shortstop David Kiriakos hit a sacrifice fly that scored Seigel, who had led off the inning with a single.
Palm Springs got an insurance run in the seventh, benefitting from an error by Legends’ third baseman Cameron Bedard that allowed Ryan Jones to come home with what turned out to be the game-winning run. Jones had a single and scored two of the four POWER runs to help clinch his second title in consecutive seasons with the team.
Long Beach cut the lead to 4-3 on an RBI single by Aaron Gray in the eighth, but couldn’t muster anything off Gomez in the ninth.
POWER starting pitcher Ryan DeJesus (7-0) went seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits to pick up the win. Matt Montgomery kept the Legends in the game, but took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits in six innings of work.
Chesny Young and Torres led the POWER offense with two hits apiece, while Siegel picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the second and came around to score after a leadoff single in the fifth.
Gomez picked up his sixth save of the summer and lowered his ERA to 0.49.
The POWER have now won 23 out of their last 24 games, including a 13-game winning streak that dates back to July 7.
The team is back in action to take on the So Cal Sklz in a non-conference game on Friday night at 7:05 at Palm Springs Stadium. With the win, they move on to the SCCBL vs. OCCL Championship series to be played against the OCCL champions on August 1, 3 and 4.
