FULLERTON – Sharing is caring but the Fullerton baseball team does not care to share.
Fullerton beat Sunny Hills 13-0 on Friday to begin its quest for what the team hopes will be a Freeway League championship to call its own.
The Indians shared the league title with Sunny Hills last season when both teams finished the regular season with 11-4 league records. Sunny Hills won two of the three league games against Fullerton.
“We knew what happened last year,” said Fullerton senior right-handed pitcher George Papadatos. “We just really wanted to get after it and show people what we’re made of.”
The Indians scored six runs on four hits in the first inning and added four in the second inning on three hits.
Fullerton (9-4 overall), ranked No. 14 in the Orange County Top 25, has several returning starters from last year’s team that lost to Tesoro in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship game. Among the returners are senior catcher Nate Norman, last season’s league player of the year, and senior second baseman Kyle Kim, who was All-CIF Division 4 last year.
Papadatos allowed one hit with five strikeouts over his three innings of pitching and hit a run-scoring double.
Kim added a two-run double. Malachi Meni had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run. Miguel Velazquez hit a two-run double, Niko Savage had two hits and an RBI, Niko Mendez drove in a run and scored twice, and Connor Sunderland hit his team-leading fourth home run.
Fullerton senior pitcher George Papadatos struck out five and allowed one hit in 3IP, also hit an RBI double in a 13-0 win over Sunny Hills in a Freeway League opener … pic.twitter.com/BbwPDih6zQ
— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) April 1, 2023
Sunny Hills (7-4-1) has many new players at key positions. The Lancers started three freshmen and only two seniors Friday.
“We knew they’re a little bit young,” said Fullerton coach Shaun Hill. “So we wanted to get things going early and put some pressure on them, and…
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