Prep Baseball : Damian’s Hot Stuff Isn’t Enough in Loss to Santa Ana

Against most teams, Leonard Damian of Canyon High School uses sheer arm strength to throw the ball by the batter.

Against Santa Ana, that has not been enough. He must also pitch. But even pitching well was not enough Tuesday when Damian and host Canyon, lost 6-4, in a Century League game against the Saints.

It was only the second loss of the season for Damian (7-2), who allowed only three hits in the six innings worked.

The Saints are hardly intimidated by the hard-throwing right-hander, having beaten him earlier this season in a nine-inning game, 2-1.

Santa Ana’s secret seems to be that it is not overly aggressive at the plate. Rather, the Saints take the first pitch or two to measure him and then will go with the pitch to the opposite field if he’s throwing the hard stuff.

Ironically, in the second inning, Damian struck out Santa Ana’s number four, five and six hitters to retire the side, only to see the bottom half of the lineup jump on him for two runs in the third inning.

Canyon took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on three singles by Eric Degraw, Steve Milledge and Damian, but fell behind in the top of the third and never caught up.

Damian retired the first seven Santa Ana batters of the game before Brian Flores sliced a double to left-center. Armando Olivares followed that with a double inside the bag at third and the game was tied, 1-1.

Richard Tellez’s ground ball to second brought in the next run, and Santa Ana pitcher John Schilling (7-0) took control from there.

The Saints increased their lead to 3-1 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly, but Canyon got that run back in the bottom of the inning on an error.

In the seventh, with Damian shifted to first base and Wayne Elmore relieving, Santa Ana got two runs on a double by John Hefler, who later scored on an error, making it 6-2.

Canyon scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run home run over the left-field fence by Damian, but it wasn’t enough as his pitching record fall to 7-2.

League-leading Santa Ana improved its record to 8-1 and 16-3 overall, and second-place Canyon fell to 6-2-1 and 14-3-1.

In other Century League action:

Tustin 4, Santa Ana Valley 0--The Tillers scored four unearned runs in the fifth inning, and pitcher Mike Rishovd threw a complete-game, three-hit shutout to give Tustin the win at home.

The Tillers (5-3-1) managed six hits, all singles. Rishovd (3-1) struck out seven and walked one. Santa Ana Valley (2-7) had three hits, all singles.

Foothill 11, Orange 8--The Knights (3-6, 8-12) scored six runs in the fourth to defeat the Panthers at home. Orange came back to score six in the seventh. Chris Cutliff had a solo home run in the third for Foothill. He was 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Mike Pope (3-2) was the winning pitcher.

El Modena 3, Villa Park 2--The Spartans (3-5-1, 3-11-1) had a 1-0 lead until the Vanguards scored three unearned runs in the third inning. Dave Condon (0-4), who struck out six, took the loss.

In Sunset League action:

Fountain Valley 3, Huntington Beach 1--Bob Sharpnack kept the Barons in the running for a playoff spot by throwing a two-hitter, striking out nine, and retiring the last 15 of 16 men he faced at Mile Square Park Tuesday night.

Sharpnack allowed two singles and a sacrifice fly in the third inning and after that the Oilers didn’t have another base runner until the last inning. Six of Sharpnack’s nine strikeouts were on called third strikes as his breaking ball kept the Huntington Beach hitters offstride as much as his fastball.

Sharpnack also started Fountain Valley’s three-run second inning with a walk. Jeff Olsen also walked and Chris Bugbee doubled both runners in. Bugbee later scored on a passed ball and Sharpnack (8-2) had all the margin he needed.

Fountain Valley raised its record to 4-4-1 in league and 13-6-1 overall while first-place Huntington Beach fell to 6-4 and 11-7.

Ocean View 6, Westminster 2--Mike Abascao had three hits, including a triple to lead the Seahawks (14-6, 6-4). Blaine DeBrouwer doubled and singled and Tommy Smythe had two singles and two RBI for Ocean View. Craig Anderson (5-1) got the win, and Brett Johnson struck out four batters in three innings of relief.

In Empire League action:

El Dorado 7, Katella 1--The Hawks (3-6, 10-8) got two home runs--the first by Bret Boone in the third and a three-run home run by Rob Sporrer in the fifth for the win at home. El Dorado added two more in the sixth, on RBI singles by Sporrer and Shawn Blakenship.

The only run for the Knights (8-1,14-4) came in the first on a home run by Mike Connolly. The winning pitcher was Scott Holcomb (2-0).

Esperanza 5, Los Alamitos 4--The Griffins (7-2, 12-7) had a 1-0 lead in the first, but the Aztecs came back in the second with a two-run home run by Mike Simms. A three-run double by Steve Renko gave the Griffins the lead again. But Simms led off the seventh with another home run to give Esperanza the win.

Loara 3, Pacifica 1--The Saxons (3-5,10-10) scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning for the come-from-behind victory at Pacifica. Left-hander Tim Hopper, who pitched a complete-game, four-hitter, got the win.

In Olympic League action:

Orange Lutheran 14, Capo Valley Christian 1--Mike Utke pitched a complete-game one-hitter and went 4 for 5 at the plate for the Lancers (7-2), who had 22 hits in the win over the Eagles (3-5) at Capo Valley.

In Academy League action:

Newport Christian 17, St. Michaels’ 12--The Conquerors (3-4, 3-9) scored scored six runs in the second inning to defeat the Pioneers (0-7, 0-7) at home. With bases loaded, Newport Christian’s Robbie Morgan hit a two-run double and later stole home. Steve Forbes was 3 for 4, scored three times and had two RBIs. The winning pitcher was Whittak Sun (1-0).

Heritage 14, Liberty Christian 9--Daren Beck led the Patriots (6-3, 9-5) with two hits and four RBIs. The Minutemen had only four hits. The winning pitcher was Lonnie Page (4-2).