Santa Ana Moves Into Fast Lane

FRESNO —  Richard Lane spent the week improving his swing and the results were obvious Saturday.

Lane got five hits, including two home runs, to lead Santa Ana to a 12-4 victory over Sacramento in the first round of the state tournament Saturday.

Lane, a freshman center fielder from Tustin High, also had two doubles, a single and drove in five runs.

“I kind of struggled last week in the regionals,” Lane said, “but coach helped me get my swing back. . . . They made the mistakes and I just hammered them.”

Lane pulled a two-run homer to right field in the first inning on an 0-2 pitch and then had a run-scoring double as Santa Ana scored seven runs in the second to go ahead 9-0.

“That set the tempo and sort of rattled [Sacramento],” Santa Ana Coach Don Sneddon said.

Santa Ana advances to play Cypress at 2 today in the second round.

Sacramento (38-7-1) is the defending state champion and the top-ranked team from Northern California. The Panthers started ace Aaron Dean, who had a 12-0 record.

But Dean struggled from the start and was gone after the first seven Santa Ana batters reached base in the second inning.

Santa Ana starter D.J. Houlton (6-1) improved to 3-0 in the playoffs. Houlton gave up five hits and three runs, one earned, in 6 1/3 innings.

Art Garland had a two-run single in the second and Nick Swanson also had two RBIs for Santa Ana (33-12), but the big day belonged to Lane.

Lane’s second home run, which was also his team-leading 17th of the season, came in the fourth after Josh Shaffer singled. This time Lane lined a high changeup over the left-field fence.

Lane capped his day with a run-scoring single in the eighth to give him a team-leading 75 RBIs.

“[Lane’s] the type of guy you can ride to a championship,” Sneddon said. “That’s all this tournament is. It’s who gets hot at the right time.”