Chona sharp for Sage in playoff road win
HEMET — Sage Hill School freshman pitcher Ashwin Chona says his goal is to allow his defense to make the plays. Helping him deal with less-than-optimum efficiency on that front on Tuesday, however, would be a personal avalanche of achievement.
Chona struck out a career-high 12 and allowed two hits in six innings to help the No. 1-seeded Lightning handle host Temecula Prep, 12-0, in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 baseball playoffs at Hemet High.
The fresh-faced left-hander, whose cap bill tilts to the right while his signature changeup drifts in the opposite direction, allowed just three baserunners and retired the last 11 he faced to help Sage (25-1) extend its winning streak to 24.
Chona, who has now fanned 79 in 60 innings, improved to 11-0 and pared his earned-run average from 0.65 to 0.58. He has surrendered just 28 hits this season.
Freshman lefty Edward Pelc pitched a perfect seventh inning and a 14-hit attack helped propel the Lightning into Friday’s quarterfinals, the round in which their season ended last spring.
Sage will face Santa Paula (20-6) on Friday at a site to be determined. Santa Paula topped Lone Pine, 3-0, on Tuesday. The Ventura County-based Cardinals have won seven in a row and have outscored their last six opponents, 60-2, including 28-0 in two playoff wins.
“We’re excited for better competition,” said Chona, against whom only four balls were hit out of the infield on Tuesday. “We hit better against better competition. But we want to be mentally tough throughout.”
Despite monotonous success (Tuesday marked 87 days since its last defeat), Coach Dominic Campeau’s roster that includes just three seniors and 10 underclassmen has managed to maintain maniacal focus, regardless of the competition.
“We lost in the [CIF] quarterfinals last year and we don’t want that to happen this year,” Campeau said. “Since Day 1, we’ve been saying that we’re not going to be happy unless we win CIF. So, every game we play like it’s the last game of CIF. We didn’t win a lot of games by 10 or 15 runs [only three by at least a dozen, the most lopsided being 15], so we’re used to having to constantly battle.”
Tuesday’s clash was indeed a battle through six innings.
Sage plated its only earned run in a two-run first and it was 2-0 until the Patriots surrendered two more runs in the fifth. The last two of the Patriots’ four errors, and some sketchy outfield play that could not be ruled errors, led to eight Sage Hill runs in the seventh.
“The floodgates opened there,” Campeau said of the seventh, in which his team produced half of its hits, including a two-run single that gave junior pinch-hitter Carlos Orozco his first runs batted in of the season.
Five Sage players had multiple hits and four drove in at least two runs to help deny Temecula Prep senior pitcher Kyle Cringan his sixth complete game of the season.
Senior catcher Toby Bush was three for four with one RBI, one run and one stolen base, while Pelc was two for five with three RBIs, one run and one steal.
Junior third baseman Brett Super was two for four with a pair of doubles and two RBIs, while senior first baseman Conner Bock was two for four with two RBIs and two runs.
Junior center fielder Jack Pelc was two for three and scored twice, while senior shortstop Cole Tait (two runs) and freshman outfielder Conner Hatz (one run) had one hit apiece.
Chona, who explained that his plan is to throw strikes and finish each at-bat within three pitches (either an out or a hit), said his team is happy to be moving on.
“We don’t think about the [winning streak] anymore,” Chona said. “We just think about the fact that we have three more games to win [to claim the program’s first section championship]. Nobody cares about our previous record; just the next game.”
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CIF Playoffs
Division 6 second round
Sage Hill 12, Temecula Prep 0
SCORE BY INNINGS
Sage 200 020 8 – 12 14 0
TP 000 000 0 – 0 2 4
Chona, E. Pelc (7) and Bush; Cringan, Lemier (7) and Mora, Hall (7). W – Chona, 11-0. L – Cringan, 5-4. 2B – J. Pelc (SH), Super (SH) 2, Bock (SH).
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Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
