Freeway League : Fullerton’s 7th-Inning Stretch Causes 7-6 Loss

David Torres, Fullerton High School baseball coach, had every reason to be confident Friday.

His team had a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning at Sonora, and ace left-hander Jeff Middlebrooks had given up only three hits.

Even when Middlebrooks left after giving up two runs and four hits and only one out in the inning, Torres had a reliable reliever to turn to: junior left-hander Kurt Hindman, who had saved four of the Indians’ five victories.

But Hindman couldn’t retire a batter. He gave up a single and three walks, forcing in two runs, to bring Sonora within one. Then Sonora third baseman Andree Garcia drilled a two-out fastball to left field for a two-run single and the victory, 7-6.

“He just didn’t do it today,” Torres said of Hindman. “We hit the ball. We played good defense. We just couldn’t get those last two outs. It was a mess.”

For Sonora (1-2 in the Freeway League, 3-6 overall), the victory was timely. It came at a point when the Raiders were on the verge of making an early exit from league contention.

“It was sweet,” said Sonora Coach John Link. “We have been really struggling. To beat somebody as good and experienced as Fullerton is really nice. This is the biggest win we’ve had this year, no question.”

Before the bottom of the seventh, Fullerton had played one of its most impressive games of the season, getting 13 hits and four walks and playing flawless defense. The only problem was some poor baserunning.

In the fifth inning, Fullerton third baseman Todd Boyer hit a two-run double with two outs, but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

In the sixth, cleanup hitter Jeff Bailey hit a one-hopper to the right-field fence with the bases loaded. But Vince Chavira, who had been on second, took a wide turn around third and started back, but he found teammate Steve Pearson headed toward third. Pearson retreated to second, but Chavira was nailed at third for the second out. John Mele flied to center to end the inning.

“Our baserunning was atrocious,” Torres said. “It didn’t look big at the time. All of a sudden, it’s real big.”

Sonora’s Lance Storm, who pitched two innings and gave up two runs and five hits and struck out four, got the victory. Garcia, the only senior in the young Sonora lineup, led the Raiders with three hits, two runs and the game-winning RBI.

“They put themselves right back in it,” Link said. “We could have very easily came out 0-3. This win really helps.”

In other Freeway League games:

Sunny Hills 8, Buena Park 0--Saul Lopez (3-1) gave up three hits and struck out two in four innings for the Lancers (1-2, 6-6) at Sunny Hills. Tim Imperiali and Trevor Painton both went 3 for 4 with two RBIs for Sunny Hills, which scored eight runs on 12 hits with one error. Buena Park is 0-3 in the Freeway League.

Troy 7, La Habra 1--Chris Robinson (3-1) gave up seven hits and struck out nine in seven innings for the Warriors at Troy. Robinson also went 3 for 4 and Mike Case had a three-run home run to boost Troy in the first inning. Mike Pawlawski went 2 for 4 with one RBI double in the first innings for the Warriors (3-0, 7-1). La Habra is 2-1 and 5-4.