Baseball: Berglund completes Royal’s comeback
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Bryan Berglund’s three-run, walk-off double in the seventh inning lifted Simi Valley Royal to a 5-4, come-from-behind victory over visiting Thousand Oaks this afternoon in a Marmonte League game.
The Highlanders (11-2, 4-2), ranked No. 7 in The Southland by The Times, trailed, 4-2, entering the seventh when Tyler Bosson drew a leadoff walk against Thousand Oaks reliever Tyler Karp. Lancers coach Jimmy Stueve brought in closer Kody Kasper to face Anthony Boscarino, who reached on a fielding error.
No. 20 Thousand Oaks (8-5, 3-3) momentarily recovered when Tyler Abbott’s sacrifice attempt failed to advance the runners, but Cody Buckel drew a full-count walk to load the bases with only one out.
That’s when Berglund laced his winning hit to right-center field with two strikes.
‘After I got the second strike on me, I just tried to stay on top of the plate and hit the ball hard,’ said Berglund, whose winning hit took the pitcher off the hook for a loss.
It was the second walk-off hit of the season for the right-hander, who also had a grand slam against Chaminade. His teammates celebrated his hit today by dumping the contents of the Gatorade cooler on him.
‘It’s probably one of the greatest feelings in the world,’ Berglund said.
In another important Marmonte League game, Westlake handed Simi Valley its first defeat in league play, 7-6.
--Ben Bolch