Baseball: Esperanza advances to tournament semifinals

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David Wilson struck out eight in a complete game and Kevin Viers had two hits to help Anaheim Esperanza defeat Bishop Amat, 3-1, in a quarterfinal game of the Hard 9 National Classic on Tuesday.

Esperanza advances to Wednesday’s 7 p.m. semifinals at Cal State Fullerton against El Toro, which defeated Carlsbad, 5-2. Nick Villar had a home run for the Chargers.

El Dorado earned a spot in another semifinal with a 6-5 win over Surprise (Ariz.) Valley Vista on Christopher Rivera’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

In a consolation game, Cody Thompson improved to 6-0 by striking out eight in Alemany’s 8-1 win over Midlothian (Va.) James River. Chase Davis hit a three-run home run and Peter Van Gansen and Ryan Alvarez each had two hits and two RBIs for the Warriors (13-3-1).

Chaminade was beaten by Reno (Nev.) Galena, 2-0, despite a complete game from Kevin Lewallyn, who gave up two unearned runs and struck out nine.

-- Eric Sondheimer