Edison upsets Huntington Beach to keep baseball playoff hopes alive

There still is a glimmer of hope for the Edison High baseball team after it posted a 5-1 upset Tuesday over visiting Huntington Beach, ranked No. 3 in the state by CalHiSports.com.

By beating the Sunset League champion Oilers, the Chargers improved to 7-7 in league play and 15-14 overall. Edison coach Cameron Chinn was matter-of-fact in his analysis of the Chargers’ chances of making the upcoming CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

“We need to sweep Huntington Beach, and Marina needed to sweep Fountain Valley for us to finish in third place,” Chinn said of the final two games each team had going into the final week of the regular season. “We did, however, qualify as an at-large team with this win [because we will finish with at least a .500 overall record], but getting an at-large berth is determined on how many other teams are in our situation.”

The Chargers will find out whether they made the postseason as an at-large entry on Monday, when the section releases the playoff pairings.

Fountain Valley (17-11, 8-6 in league) defeated Marina 12-4 on Tuesday to secure third place and the program’s first playoff berth in three years. Even if the Barons lose on Thursday and the Chargers win, putting both teams at 8-7, Fountain Valley will be the league’s No. 3 playoff representative because it holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Chargers by having won two of the three games in the series.

The Chargers got off to a quick start against Huntington Beach (24-5, 12-2), taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning. With one out, the left-handed hitting Chase Hanson doubled to the opposite field. Following another out, Matt Swartz drew a walk, and Spencer Severn was hit by a pitch from Huntington Beach’s Dylan Ramirez to load the bases. Ted Burton then lined a double off the left-field fence to drive in all three runs.

Edison increased its lead to 4-0 in the third inning when Swartz blasted a solo home run to left-center field. Swartz scored the Chargers’ final run in the fifth when he hit a one-out single and advanced on a fielder’s choice and later scored when the bases were loaded and Nolan Funke was hit by a pitch to force in the run.

For the day, Swartz and Hanson had two hits each while starting pitcher Kevin Hultgren was holding the Oilers at bay. Hultgren (6-3) threw 6 1/3 innings, striking out four while allowing six hits.

“Kevin was great today,” Chinn said. “He was getting his first pitch in for a strike a high percentage of the time and he mixed his speeds really well.”

The coach also praised freshman reliever Caden Aoki, who relieved Hultgren with one out in the seventh inning. He struck out two.

“This was not a save opportunity for him,” Chinn said, “but he has four saves on the year.”

Huntington Beach coach Benji Medure complimented the Chargers, who have won seven of nine games in the league since starting 0-5.

“They did a great job against us,” Medure said. “We normally have been able to make adjustments when we fall behind — that has been our calling card — but today we made zero adjustments.”

DAVE DANIEL is a contributor to Times Community News.