Baseball: Redlands East Valley wins Division II quarterfinal

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Redlands East Valley got a scare from Oxnard in Saturday’s Southern Section-Toyota Division II quarterfinal game in Ventura County. But the top-seeded Wildcats were resilient and prevailed, 2-1, to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal against Palos Verdes.

Starter Taylor Chatwood was on top of his game, giving up five hits in five innings of work for Redlands East Valley. Jeremy Perez came on in relief in the sixth inning with the score tied. Redlands East Valley scored in the bottom of the sixth and Perez earned his fourth victory of the season.

‘Their pitching was pretty tough,’’ Oxnard Coach Alfred Tarazon said. ‘We had some opportunities but couldn’t make the most of them. In a game like this, against a good team like that, there’s no room for error. They were the better team today.’’

Ace Mikel Beltran kept the Yellowjackets close throughout, giving up three hits in a complete-game effort. However, the sophomore didn’t receive much, if any, help from teammates Kevin Newberg, Blake Adame and Derek Shutt, each of whom entered the game hitting more than .400.

I was hoping to get a quote, or two, from Redlands East Valley Coach Steve Hernandez, and a couple of his players -- particularly Chatwood -- but they took off relatively quickly. Fear not, I’m going to try and see if I can catch them before they head home.

It was a close call for the Wildcats (25-3), no doubt about it. Perhaps a little too close for comfort, which might explain why they decided not to linger any longer than need be after escaping with such a narrow victory over upset-minded Oxnard (21-6).

-- Sean Ceglinsky