Longmont – The bottom half of most batting orders aren’t expected to do too much.
And that just makes any production from those spots sweeter.
“When you’re down there, you get a lot of pitches to hit, so it’s a lot of fun,” said Taylor Hall, Mountain View’s No. 7 hitter.
Hall went 4-for-4 at the plate, scored twice and drove in four runs Thursday as the third- ranked Mountain Lions needed six innings to rough up Longmont 14-4 for a Class 4A Northern League victory.
Hall hit three singles and added a run-scoring double in the fourth inning as the Mountain Lions (3-2, 2-0 in league) remained unbeaten against 4A competition while avenging last season’s 10-9 defeat to the Trojans.
Right fielder Tyler Diener, batting eighth, drove in Hall in the fourth with a double and No. 9 batter James Riggenbach had an RBI triple to right field for the Mountain Lions.
The top of the order got in the act, too. Thomas Stainbrook, Chris Stine and Jake Walkowicz had two hits each and third baseman Brandon Boyer went 3-for-4 and scored two runs.
“Anything middle or in, they hit the ball hard,” Longmont coach Tom Fobes said. “And then later in the game they started driving it to right.”
Danny Brock tossed a complete game for the Mountain Lions and improved to 2-0. The right-handed submariner allowed six hits, struck out seven and walked two.
“We just got to throw to these guys,” Brock said. “I think we have one of the best defenses in the state.”
After starting pitcher Luke Arnaud retired the side to lead off the first inning, Longmont (6-3, 5-3) got Jordan Smith and Bobby Stover across home plate to take a 2-0 lead.
But the Mountain Lions went up for good with three runs in the second inning and were up 10-2 after pounding out five runs on six hits in the top of the fourth.
Arnaud, the Trojans’ No. 4 pitcher, threw three innings, giving up six runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Cody Wilson, who came in with one baserunner on and no outs in the fourth inning, pitched the remainder of the game, surrendering eight runs on nine hits.
Mountain View 032 513 – 14 16 2
Longmont 200 200 – 4 6 2
Mountain View – Stainbrook c 4-1-2-1, Stine cf 5-2-2-0, Brock p 4-0-0-0, Walkowicz lf 4-2-2-2, Boyer 4-2-3-0, Smith dh 2-2-1-2, Hall 1b 4-2-4-4, Diener rf 4-0-1-1, Riggenbach ss 3-1-1-1, Trujillo 2b 0-0-0-0, Litt cr 0-2-0-0, Waddell ph 1-0-0-0. Totals 35-14-16-11.
Longmont – Smith 2b 3-1-1-0, Stover lf 3-1-1-0, Lewis c 2-0-0-0, Pineda ss 3-1-1-1, Lopez 1b 2-0-2-1, McCaffrey rf 2-1-0-0, Busch dh 3-0-1-1, Arnaud p 0-0-0-0, Sterkel 3b 2-0-0-0, Martinez cf 1-0-0-1, Wilson 0-0-0-0. Totals 21-4-6-4.
E – Brock, Trujillo; Pineda, Martinez. LOB – Mountain View 6; Longmont 3. SB – Stainbrook, Walkowicz, Boyer, Hall, Litt. CS – Busch, Lopez. 2B – Hall, Diener; Pineda. 3B – Riggenbach. SAC – Martinez.
Batteries – Brock and Stainbrook; Arnaud, Wilson (4) and Lewis.
HBP – McCaffrey (by Brock in fourth). W – Brock (2-0). L – Arnaud (1-2).
