ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASEBALL : Empire League : Los Alamitos Gives One Away, 8-6

Esperanza High School is used to winning games with good hitting and solid pitching. But on Wednesday, the Aztecs found a new way to win.

In the third inning, Los Alamitos pitcher Randy Hines dropped a routine popup that would have ended the inning. By the time he left the mound, the Aztecs had scored five runs--all of them unearned--on their way to an 8-6 victory in an Empire League game at Esperanza.

“I think we hit the ball as well as Esperanza, but we just couldn’t catch it,” Los Alamitos Coach Mike Gibson said with a sigh. “I think we gave them seven unearned runs, but they still count.”

Actually it was a little worse. They gave up eight.

Brent Bish led off the third with a single to right, and after Tom Redington flied out, Doug Saunders reached on an error by shortstop Ricky Paul. Jason Moler’s ground out drove in Bish, who had stolen third.

It appeared Los Alamitos was out of the inning when Jim Short popped to Hines, but Hines dropped the ball and Saunders scored. Rick Lane singled, and David Alan, running for Short, moved to second. Hines then walked Kevin Webb to load the bases.

Clint Holt drove in two runs with a single to right, but a throwing error by right fielder Nick Beljajen allowed another run, making the score 7-2.

The game was far from over, though. Los Alamitos scored three runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to make the score 7-6. Meanwhile, Mike Kelly, who replaced Hines on the mound, held the Griffins hitless the rest of the way.

Esperanza scored the game’s final run in the sixth when Bart Goldman’s single drove in Holt, who had bunted safely and stolen second. The Aztecs then finished off Los Alamitos in the seventh with a double play.

Esperanza Coach Mike Curran was far from satisfied with the performance of his team, especially his pitchers.

“I thought we struggled through the whole game,” he said. “We hit hard balls all day that people caught. And I didn’t think we had as good pitching as we needed.”

Moler, the Esperanza starter, gave up four runs on four hits in 3 innings. He was replaced by sophomore Roger Weems (3-0).

“We let them back into the ballgame and the momentum changed,” Curran said. “When we let them back in at 7-5, they thought, ‘Hey, we can play with these guys.’ ”

The Aztecs are 3-0 in the Empire League and 9-1 overall. Los Alamitos is 1-2 and 5-7.

Loara 15, Pacifica 2--The Saxons scored seven runs in the first inning and scored in every inning but the fourth as they won at Loara.

Loara had 13 hits, including catcher Brian Roberts’ fifth-inning homer. Roberts was 3 for 3 with four RBIs. Carlos Castillo was 2 for 4 and also drove in four runs.

Jeff Patterson, the winning pitcher, allowed one run in the four innings he pitched. Loara is 1-3 and 8-2.

Pacifica is 2-1 in league.

Cypress 4, Kennedy 3--Ron Brown drove in the winning run with a fifth-inning single as the Centurions (1-2, 4-7) won at home. Robert Wilson was 3 for 3 for Kennedy.

El Dorado 10, Katella 1--Scott Tomko was 2 for 4 with a double and three RBIs, and Kevin Schula hit an RBI triple and scored three runs as the Hawks (11-1, 3-0) won at Boisen Park. Katella is 1-2 and 5-6.