Arcadia baseball wins first-round playoff game on Matt Manzo's walk-off hit

ARCADIA - Simi Valley grabbed all the momentun after Ryan Whitson's two-out single in the seventh inning scored Liam Barkwill to tie the score, forcing Arcadia to pick itself back up.

The Apaches did just that.

Jordan Vogel drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh and stole second base. On a 3-2 count, Matt Manzo belted a walk-off single to deep center, scoring Vogel, and the celebration began.

Arcadia escaped with a 3-2 victory over Simi Valley on Friday in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.

Arcadia (19-10) will be on the road in Tuesday's second round against Summit, a 7-6 winner over La Canada.

Arcadia's Matt Manzo with a walk off shot off the fence with two outs in the 7th to score Jordan Vogel for a 3-2 victory over Simi Valley in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs pic.twitter.com/iRkoOePMMJ

- Fred J. Robledo 👨🏻‍💻 (@SGVNSports) May 16, 2026

Arcadia's Matt Manzo talks about hitting the walk off base hit in the bottom of the seventh they gave the Apaches a 3-2 playoff victory over Simi Valley. pic.twitter.com/hHdvnhzhwk

- Fred J. Robledo 👨🏻‍💻 (@SGVNSports) May 16, 2026

"Jordan had a great at bat, and then steals a base, that's huge," Manzo said. "After going down 0-2 in the count, I got a couple curve balls, worked a full count and then looked for a fast ball up and just drove it."

Manzo talked about the emotions from being one out away from winning it earlier, to having to refocus and win on their at bat in the bottom of the seventh.

"In the moment we're down, but it's a team sport, and we picked ourselves up, thankfully." Manzo said.

It was a victory that certainly had drama.

With Arcadia leading 2-1 in the sixth inning, Simi Valley's Evan Rodriguez belted his second home run of the game to seemingly tie the score, 2-2.

However, after Arcadia coach Nick Lemas appealed to the umpires that Rodriguez batted out of order, he was ruled out and the Apaches regained their 2-1 lead.

Rodriguez was called out for batters interference to end the fifth inning on Simi Valley's steal attempt. Therefore, it counted as an at bat, so when he came to bat in the sixth, Lemas knew he had a card to play with.

Arcadia coach Nick Lemas talks about the Apaches walk off 3-2 victory over Simi Valley in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs. pic.twitter.com/yloXOUGrnF

- Fred J. Robledo 👨🏻‍💻 (@SGVNSports) May 16, 2026

"When he came up we knew that he was going to be out, we just needed to get through the at bat," Lemas said. "I was fairly confident we were going to get an out of of it, but I didn't know he would hit a home run. I feel bad for him, that's a tough moment to have taken away."

The Apaches knew they were in for a tough game before it started having to face Simi Valley's senior left-hander Kyle Casey, who brought a career 17-0 record to the contest going back to his sophomore year. Casey was 7-0 this season with a 0.97 ERA.

Although Simi Valley's Rodriguez smacked the first pitch of the game for a home run to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead, the Apaches were able to get to Casey in the second inning.

Aiden Soto's triple to right scored Tyler Brereton from first. The next batter, Julian Salmon, put the Apaches in front with a single to left that scored Soto for a 2-1 lead.

Although Casey didn't get the loss after the Pioneers tied the score in the seventh, they were able to chase Casey out of the game after 3 2/3 innings with a one-run lead.

"We did a really good job (on Casey)," Lemas said. "I don't know if he was at his best. We heard rumors he might have a sore arm, but we worked all week on a left-handed pitcher with his stuff. I thought we did a really good job of getting a few bases on walks, a couple hit by pitches and that made him make some pressure pitches."

The Apaches managed to win on a day when they only had five hits because their own senior lefty, Daniel Catano, threw six strong innings, allowing three hits with seven strikeouts. The only run he gave up was the homer to Rodriguez in the first inning, and settled down after that.

The Apaches turned to Isaiah Spencer to close the seventh, and though he didn't get it done allowing the game-tying run, it didn't matter in the end.

"We were able to get out of there (top of the seventh) with just the one run and knew that we could put up a run," Lemas said. "That's the home team advantage of being the last team to hit."

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