Huntington Beach takes advantage of Tesoro’s late-inning miscues to reach Newport Elks Tournament final

A wild pitch, a passed ball and an error all contributed to the Huntington Beach High baseball team reaching the Newport Elks Tournament Frank Lerner Division championship game.

With a tie game in the top of the seventh inning, the Oilers took advantage of Tesoro mistakes. Huntington Beach scored two runs in the seventh to take a 4-2 victory over the host Titans in the semifinals on Wednesday.

Huntington Beach (5-2), which shares the No. 9 spot in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, plays at Foothill for the title in the Newport Elks Tournament’s premier division. The final is Friday at 3 p.m. The host Knights upset No. 2 Corona 5-2 in the semifinals on Wednesday.

“Everybody is going to come after us knowing that we lost some of the big guys, but people don’t realize how much we return from that team last year,” Huntington Beach coach Benji Medure said. “That team was great last year because of Nick [Pratto] and Hagen [Danner], but it is also because of the younger guys that we have that are still in the lineup and that are still pitching for us.

“I told them that everyone is going to be gunning for us and that we have to have that chip on our shoulder. We are going to be the hunted instead of the hunters.”

The Oilers pounced on their opportunities with the game tied at 2-2 in the seventh.

Dylan Ramirez and Jake Vogel hit back-to-back one-out singles off of Nate Petke. Ramirez would move to third base on a fielder’s choice by Josh Hahn, and with Jag Burden at the plate, Petke threw a wild pitch, scoring Ramirez and advancing Hahn to second base.

Hahn advanced to third base on the next pitch that went to the backstop. Petke left the game in exchange for Parker O’Neil, but Cole Minato got on first base on an error that scored Hahn to give Huntington Beach a two-run lead.

Nick Morlett came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh inning and get the save. The Oilers have won five straight, four coming in the Newport Elks Tournament.

The Oilers got on the board first in the top of the third inning. Hahn singled to left field to drive in Cole DiMarco from second base.

But the Titans (2-3) got back at Hahn, who started on the mound for Huntington Beach and struck out five and allowed two earned runs in four innings. Carter Gronnerud and Petke singled in runs to give the Titans the 2-1 lead.

Ramirez would tie the game for Huntington Beach in the fifth inning by singling in a run with one out.

“We had to play tight defense,” said Ramirez, who went two for two with a run batted in. “Our offense was ready to hit in the last few innings. We really brought it together in the end. We just need to keep throwing strikes and have tight pitching. We seem to hit it at the right time.”

Tesoro starter Ryan McCormick threw 4 1/3 innings. He had four strikeouts and allowed two earned runs in a no decision, while Petke got the loss in relief.

Tesoro’s Joey Lapolla went two for two with a double and walk. Lapolla was the only one with an extra-base hit in the game.

“We didn’t finish the game,” Tesoro coach Rick Brail said. “Huntington Beach stayed aggressive in the end and that’s what it took for [the Oilers]. I’m proud of our guys. We gave them six strong innings, but we just fell apart in the end. To their credit, they played hard and kept the pressure on us.”

Left-hander Zeke Ziegler got the win, striking out two in two hitless innings.

Another Huntington Beach lefty, Nate Madole, will start in Friday’s final.

“Madole is one of our big guys,” Medure said of his senior bound for Loyola Marymount. “It always comes down to pitching and great defense. Hopefully we’ll be on the better side again.”

MANNY ALVAREZ is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @MAlvarez02