Aguilar Delivers in 9th for Canyons, 5-4

Unsettling thoughts, perhaps as nasty as the curveballs that had baffled him throughout the game, might have been dancing in John Aguilar’s head when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday.

Aguilar, the College of the Canyons shortstop, had struck out twice, flied out and sacrificed in his previous turns against Willie Rivera, a Valley right-hander with a wicked breaking pitch.

But Aguilar bashed a hanging curve from Rivera for a one-out, two-run double to left-center field in the ninth to give Canyons a 5-4 victory in a Western State Conference game at Canyons.

The victory increased the Cougars’ lead to 5 1/2 games over second-place Valley. Canyons is 21-6, 18-2 in conference play; Valley is 13-12-1, 12-7-1.

“I was just looking to put the ball in play,” said Aguilar, a freshman from Hart High. “I wasn’t expecting to do what I did. (Rivera) put it kind of in my wheelhouse.”

Until the ninth, Rivera (6-2) had limited Canyons to two runs and seven hits. But the Monarch ace was victimized by seven errors, including two in the ninth that opened the door for Canyons.

After Ari Jacobs led off the inning with a groundout to second base, Andy Shaw singled to right. Cleanup batter Keith Halcovich followed with a grounder that third baseman Vic Seper threw away to first base, sending Shaw to third. R.J. Fenolio pinch-ran for Halcovich at first and moved to second on a single by John Davis that knocked in Shaw to cut Valley’s lead to 5-3.

Left fielder Kirk Fellows reached first on an error by shortstop Carlos Olmos, loading the bases for Aguilar, who connected on a one-and-two pitch.

“I was trying to set him up with an outside curve,” Rivera said, “but I hung it up.”

Rivera and right-hander Kevin Foderaro battled in a scoreless duel for 5 1/2 innings before the Cougars broke through with a run in the sixth. Valley took a 2-1 lead in the seventh on a run-scoring groundout by catcher Anthony Paschia and a single by Olmos.

The Monarchs chased Foderaro with a run in the eighth, but left-hander Jason Chandler (5-1) came to the rescue with one out and stranded runners at second and third. Valley, however, got to Chandler for a run in the ninth on a two-out double by Jason Stanley that drove in Paschia for a 4-2 lead.

Davis was three for four with two runs batted in and Paschia was two for four. Shaw was two for four and scored three runs.