_____________________
_____________________
April 5, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
If there is ever a league game that warranted a crossroads situation, it would have been John Glenn High’s home game with Artesia High last Thursday. The Eagles were hoping to improve to 3-1 in the 605 League and gain a two-game advantage over the Pioneers.
Instead, a bases loaded sacrifice fly from freshman left fielder Jaco Moreno brought in junior right fielder Jorge Vidal and the Pioneers, who once blew a 6-2 lead, escaped with a 7-6 victory, completing the home and home sweep. They had blanked the Eagles 3-0 on Mar. 31 on a complete game two-hit performance from Vidal and now own the tiebreaker should the teams finish tied at the end of the regular season.
But the turning point of the game, according to Artesia head coach Jose Serrano, came much earlier in the contest when his team was down 2-1.
“I would say the second inning where we came up and I believe we had two outs and we rallied to get those two runs back,” said Serrano. “I think that’s what set the tone, and then going back to the third inning and doing the same thing. That really changed the game.” “My players played their hearts out; my heart’s breaking for them,” said Glenn head coach Ken Mason. “I want so bad for them to experience the fruit of their hard work. I’ve worked them harder than they’ve ever been worked in their lives and my heart breaks that we can’t see the reward for that. We’re not giving up hope. Things have to fall our way; we have to get some help now, maybe a three-way tie for third place.”
With two outs in the top of the second inning, senior center fielder Emmanuel Rocha bunted his way on base and Glenn sophomore pitcher David Segura walked senior shortstop Devon Torrez. That set the stage for junior second baseman Michael Nava, who tripled to the left field gap to give Artesia the 3-2 lead.
The Pioneers added two more runs in the next inning as a single from Moreno plated senior pinch runner Daniel Jimenez and junior designated hitter Jacob Rodriguez. The score went to 6-2 in the fourth as senior catcher Adrian Romero singled with two outs, advanced on two wild pitches and scored when Vidal was safe on one of six combined errors.
“Those are the rallies that I know we can do, but baseball is a funny game,” said Serrano. “When you’re struggling, you can’t find the holes. But lately, like the last game and today, just swinging [the bats] and having an approach really showed these guys that hey, as long as we’re swinging it, we’ll find a hole. I think that’s what happened in those two innings.”
Glenn would get a run back in the fifth when senior third baseman Evan Perez reached on an error with one out and scored on a groundout from junior second baseman Matthew Vasquez with the bases loaded. In the next inning, after a pair of strikeouts from senior Ivan Rodriguez, senior catcher Jonah Mason singled right in front of third base before Rodriguez walked Segura. A single to left from Perez made it 6-4 before an infield hit from senior Bert Alvarado, who began the game in left field, loaded the bases.
Two pitches later, a base hit from senior first baseman Julian Moreno drove in Mason and Segura and just like that, it was 6-6. But Ivan Rodriguez finished off the game with a flyout to end the inning, then two strikeouts and a groundout in the seventh, all on a combined 16 pitches.
“If you relax, or take a batter off, it could flip it just like that,” said Serrano. “That’s exactly what we did. I’m not going to say it was a bad call, but I think the call at first base really changed the momentum of it should have been three outs to oh shoot, here it goes [again].”
“I’m just really proud of the way my boys are competing at the plate,” said Ken Mason. “We’re making big strides; I wish we had competed like this at the beginning of the season.
“That’s huge for them, especially for Julian,” he continued on his sixth inning at-bat. “We expect Jonah, David, Bert and Evan to be the guys; to be the dudes. But for Julian to come up in that role was really big. That’s potentially a highlight for his senior year right there.”
Senior pitcher Josue Lugo went the first five, scattering seven hits and striking out two before Rodriguez came in.
“I think he did a great job in [those] five innings,” said Serrano of Lugo. “Ivan threw great against Cerritos. Just changing the game and changing a different guy out there…that’s why we went with [Rodriguez]. But that’s the game; sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you make the wrong call.”
After Artesia opened the scoring on a run-scoring single from Romero, the Eagles took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the frame when Jonah Mason doubled to left field on the first pitch he saw from Lugo, Segura singled to left on a one-strike pitch and Perez singled to left. Alvarado then reached on an error to load the bases and Moreno reached on a fielder’s choice, bringing in Segura.
“We’re starting to play well,” said Ken Mason. “I think it’s just a confidence thing. I think it’s just trying to get them to believe that they can compete. At the beginning of the season, they were timid. I have a lot of new starters; I think I only have three returning starters from last year. So there are a lot of new players in the lineup, and I don’t think they believed they could compete.
“Artesia is a better team than many of the teams that we lost to, and we just didn’t compete in those games earlier in the season,” he added. “Now we have them believing that they can compete. It’s just a real bummer we came up short today.”
Why was this game important even though it was the second week of 605 League action? Artesia improved to 4-10 overall and 2-2 in the circuit while Glenn, which had won five of eight games before losing to the Pioneers earlier in the week, dropped to 5-9, 2-2. Both teams each have six more league contests but the Pioneers figure to have the easier path, on paper, to secure an automatic playoff berth as Glenn still has to face defending league champion Oxford Academy and the kings of the league before last season, Cerritos High.
“Coming into the week, I told them this was the playoffs,” said Serrano. “Either we win or we’re not going to have a chance. Just having that mentality of coming in and playing one game at a time but understanding that it is a playoff game. Because now, we’re 2-2 and to be honest with you, we have to win four more games and [we’re] in the playoffs.”
“That was one of our goals this year,” said Ken Mason. “There are seniors here that have never beaten Artesia, and that was one of our goals. We knew we had to beat Artesia to give ourselves a chance for playoffs, and we really put ourselves in a bind now.”
Artesia also broke the tiebreaker in games played with Glenn since 2005 as the Pioneers now lead the series 22-21 since that season. Artesia has won 10 straight over Glenn since the Eagles slammed Artesia 17-2 on May 27, 2021 and had lost six straight this season before the week began. This could be the last time the program’s face each other in a league contest for at least a season with the new conference beginning in just over four months.
“We’ve always had good games,” said Serrano. “Glenn has always been a respectful team. Back when I was [playing] in 2003 and then coaching all these years, I remember playing tough games and…playing hard. There would be years where they would beat us every single game and then now, we’re kind of flipping it around. But [there have been] great series with Glenn. I hope we’re in the same league next year. If not, it will be sad because I’m used to playing Glenn every year.”
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.