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Birmingham baseball grinds out 5-4 West Valley League win over Granada Hills

Birmingham's Kaden Taque and Ricardo Martinez combined to throw a two-hitter for the Patriots.

LAKE BALBOA, Calif. -- In a game featuring the two best teams in the LA City Section, Birmingham baseball rallied from three runs down to beat West Valley League rival Granada Hills 5-4 on Tuesday night. 

Both teams had their share of ugly moments in a game that had more wild pitches and passed balls (10) than hits (6), but in the end, it was Granada Hills that made a critical mistake they weren't able to overcome. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Highlanders reliever Ethan Hawk struck out Birmingham's Ernesto Martinez, but the third strike pitch wiggled away from catcher Will White allowing Vince Cervantes to score the would be winning run from third base.

Cervantes finished 2-for-2 at the plate with two singles. He scored two runs and had an RBI. 

"We did a really good job of staying composed [tonight]," Birmingham head coach Matt Mowry said postgame. "We had the three errors that really put us in a bad position but our pitchers stepped up and competed."

Junior Hawaii commit Kaden Taque started the game for Birmingham on the mound and allowed only two hits but gave up four runs in four innings thanks in large part to errors and passed balls. In the third inning, Granada Hills scored three runs, but Highlanders' senior Trent Wainfeld recorded the only Granada Hills RBI in the the inning when he hit a single to score White.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Birmingham took advantage of some Granada Hills' miscues which eventually led to an RBI double from Richard Barrera to tie the game 4-4. 

Birmingham senior Ricardo Martinez pitched the last three innings of relief for the Patriots and didn't allow a hit to secure the 5-4 win. 

"Ricky came in and was really, really good," Mowry said.

Birmingham improved to 12-5 with the victory and Granada Hills fell to 13-3-1. The two teams will finish their regular season series on Thursday at Granada Hills.