ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASEBALL : Sea View League : Saddleback Beats Tustin, Takes Over League Lead

Before Friday’s Sea View League game against Tustin High School, Saddleback Coach Bob Mangram talked to his team about one thing: becoming league champion.

Mangram’s pregame speech seemed to work wonders, as the Roadrunners defeated Tustin, 9-2, at Tustin to take a one-game lead over the Tillers with two games remaining.

Junior right-hander Sean Therien (5-2) threw a seven-hitter for the Roadrunners (10-3, 16-7), and his teammates battered Tustin starter Chris Floth (9-2) for nine runs on 10 hits in six innings.

“This school has never had a league (baseball) champion,” said Mangram. “We talked about being league champs, and we moved one step closer with a big win today.”

The Roadrunners close the season next week with home and away games against Estancia. A Saddleback victory Tuesday would clinch at least a co-championship.

The Tillers (9-4, 14-8) scored in the third inning on a single to center field by Craig Morrison that scored Matt Lundin. But that would be Tustin’s only lead.

Floth, who had pitched two shutout innings against Saddleback Wednesday in relief, held the Roadrunners scoreless for the first three innings. But in the fourth, Saddleback sent 10 batters to the plate and had five consecutive hits.

With the score tied, 1-1, designated hitter Jeff Blanco hit a two-run double to give Saddleback a 3-1 lead. The Roadrunners scored two more runs on Frank Larriva’s sacrifice fly and an error by second baseman Craig Gill.

Saddleback put the game out of reach in the fifth inning on Paul O’Hearn’s three-run homer to left field, increasing the lead to 8-1.

Therien allowed only one hit and walked one in the last three innings. He struck out five.

“He didn’t have his great velocity today,” Mangram said. “He threw well in the latter part of the game and had great control of his pitches.”

Hector Santa Cruz had three hits for the Roadrunners, and Blanco added two hits and scored twice. Floth and Morrison each had two hits for the Tillers.

Corona del Mar 17, Estancia 3--Kurt Ehman and Craig Nixon each hit three-run home runs to lead the Sea Kings (6-7, 9-9) at Corona del Mar. Bob Ardell was 3 for 5 and scored three runs for third-place Corona del Mar, which has a one-game lead over the fourth-place Eagles (5-8, 8-15).

University 4, Newport Harbor 2--Toby Foreman pitched a four-hitter, and David Yamafuji and Steve Keer had RBI singles in the sixth inning to lead the Trojans (4-8-1, 10-13-1) to a come-from-behind victory over the Sailors (2-10-1, 8-14-1) at Newport Harbor. Steve Conner was 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI, and David Dieter was 2 for 2 and scored a run for University.