High School Baseball: Eagles edge Lancers

The sound at the end of Estancia High’s baseball game wasn’t a roar. It was more like a sigh of relief.

One-run contests haven’t been kind to the Eagles this year. They played their seventh one in 12 games, and they managed to hold on at the end for only the second time.

The Eagles edged Lakewood, 3-2, in a Beach Pit Classic opener at home on Saturday afternoon. The win is an impressive one for Estancia, which beat the first-place team out of the Moore League, coached by the legendary Spud O’Neil.

“A huge win for us,” Estancia Coach Nate Goellrich said. “We kind of had a team meeting [on Friday] and kind of talked about some things, just trying to keep our guys focused and dialed in because we’re in every game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing [because] we can play with anybody.

“I was very happy we came away with the win and maybe this can turn the tide for us in winning those close games.”

A couple of errors by the Eagles (5-7) in the top of the seventh made things interesting. Their two-run lead was cut in half when the third baseman’s errant throw to first on a routine grounder allowed the leadoff hitter to reach safely. The third baseman almost threw another one away after fielding a sacrifice bunt, bouncing the ball to first baseman Connor Brown, who scooped the ball out to get the first out.

The next batter, David Rivera, singled to center, and Lakewood (10-6) planned to hold the runner at third base, but when the center fielder misplayed the ball, the Lancers waved him home to make it a one-run affair with one out.

Estancia starter Tyler Ross pitched to one more batter, walking Christian Valdez on five pitches. The sophomore gave Estancia a strong performance, going 6 1/3 innings, a better outing than his previous one on Tuesday in which he couldn’t get past the second inning at Godinez. The Eagles wound up losing that Orange Coast League game, 9-8, in eight innings. Godinez beat the Eagles in walk-off fashion, the third time that’s happened to Estancia this season.

Estancia held the lead in the seventh in each of those three walk-off setbacks. While Lakewood couldn’t win in the last at-bat against the Eagles, it was in position to tie the ballgame, or take the lead.

With runners on first and second, Estancia brought in freshman Brian Rodriguez. He faced Collin Perez, Lakewood’s No. 2 hitter. Perez, a lefty, hit the ball hard, pulling a pitch right toward first, where Brown caught it and then stepped on the bag for a game-ending double play.

Some home fans yelled, “Finally!” after watching the Eagles survive a tight one. Estancia moves on to the quarterfinals to play host to Laguna Hills (9-4) on Monday at 11 a.m. Laguna Hills defeated Western, 8-1, earlier in the day at Estancia.

Ross (1-1) helped Estancia move on, allowing four hits and one earned run during his best start of the season. While he walked four and hit one batter, the Lancers only scored once in the first and last innings off Ross. Catcher Jacob Mullison bailed out Ross after he walked Rivera in the fifth inning. Mullison threw out Rivera at second base, the second runner he caught stealing.

After Lakewood’s Zach Martinez picked up the first run batted in with a double, the Eagles tied it in the second inning when Colin Gardner drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. The Eagles’ next two runs were driven in by Brown in the third and by Aaron Boaitey in the fifth, each on a sacrifice fly off starter Jacob Acosta (1-1), who went five innings.

“We hit the ball hard,” O’Neil said, “but it went right at guys.”

O’Neil wasn’t too worried about falling short at Estancia. He has been involved in many nail biters during his 36 years as a high school baseball coach in California.

More often than not, he has prevailed. He has won 700 games in 32 years with Lakewood and 110 in four years at Colton, giving him 810 overall wins and ranking him fourth all-time in the state.

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Beach Pit Classic

Estancia 3, Lakewood 2

SCORE BY INNING

Lakewood 100 000 1 – 2 4 3

Estancia 011 010 x – 3 6 4

Acosta, Herrera (6) and Hurst; Ross, Rodriguez (7) and Mullison. W – Ross, 1-1. L – Acosta, 1-1. Sv – Rodriguez. 2B – Martinez (L).