HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL : Cirillo Loses Ground on RBI Mark Despite Driving Home 1 Run

Senior Jeff Cirillo drove in one run in Providence’s 8-2 win over Brentwood on Friday to raise his season RBI total to 54, two shy of the Southern Section record Chris Donnels of South Torrance set in 1984.

But Cirillo actually lost ground. On Friday night, Redondo’s Scott Davison, who tied Donnels’ record earlier this week, drove in two runs to break the record.

Cirillo doubled in Steve Ross from second in the fifth inning and missed getting another RBI on the play when pitcher Vic Salazar was thrown at the plate out as he tried to score from first.

Providence Coach Marc Saraceno said he hesitated in waving Salazar home from third. “It was a coach’s blunder,” Saraceno said. “I made it almost impossible for him to score.”

Providence (18-7-1, 8-2) finishes as co-champion of the Delphic League with Crossroads, but Crossroads will enter the Small Schools Large Division playoffs as the first-place team based on its undefeated record in the second half of league.

Rich Campus had three hits, and Ross and Adam Grant had two hits each. Ross had a stolen base and is 38 for 39 in stolen-base attempts this season. Grant had two RBIs.

Providence, the defending Southern Section Small Schools champion, scored three runs in the third to take a 4-2 lead. Ross scored on a throwing error, Grant singled in Cirillo, then scored on a fielder’s choice by Paul Garcia.

Although his team had 11 hits, Saraceno was upset by three errors. “We didn’t play good defense at all,” he said. “We looked like anything but CIF champs.”

Salazar gave up two runs in four innings to raise his record to 5-1.

DEL REY LEAGUE

John Goetz hit a two-run single in the second inning to lead Crespi over Bosco Tech, 4-2. Chad Nichols and Greg Connolly combined for a five-hitter as Crespi ended its regular season with seven straight wins. Crespi (19-5-1, 10-1-1) clinched the league championship on Tuesday. Bosco Tech finished 4-7-1 in league.

At Loyola, junior Sean Sosa had three hits and two RBIs, and Jon Beauchemin had a home run and four RBIs to lead Alemany (18-9, 5-7) to an 11-6 win over Loyola. Randy Thompson contributed a double and single to Alemany’s 12-hit attack. Mike Rooney pitched a complete game, allowing four earned runs and striking out four to earn the win. Senior Mike Evans hit two home runs and had four RBIs for Loyola (3-7-2).

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

Hart was hurt by six errors, including two by third baseman Dean Fausett with none out in the seventh inning, and lost to Schurr, 6-5. Donnie Hinson, David Lee and Jason Edwards had two hits apiece for Hart (18-8, 10-5), which had 10 hits. Mike Stevenson had a bases-loaded triple but was thrown out at the plate when he tried to stretch it into a home run.

With the scored tied at six in the top of the sixth, Hart loaded the bases but Jim Bonds’ hard line drive to the shortstop was turned into an inning-ending double play. Sophomore Casey Burrill had five strikeouts in 2 innings for Hart. Schurr (9-6) had nine hits.

GOLDEN LEAGUE

Scott Weiss pitched a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts to lead Quartz Hill to a 4-3 win over Canyon. The win gives Quartz Hill (11-4) second-place in league and drops Canyon (10-5) to third. With two out in the seventh, Ernie Figueroa struck out with the tying run on second base.

Canyon’s Gary Morgan had two hits, including a home run on the second pitch of the game. Morgan drove in another run in the seventh when he singled in Doug Botton. Travis Regnolds also hit a solo home run for Canyon in the sixth inning.

Ken Sollom pitched a complete game, allowing five hits, four walks and striking out five to drop his record to 6-4.

At Antelope Valley, Rob Davis drove in the winning run in the fifth inning to give Saugus a 3-2 victory over Antelope Valley. Brian Stothers and Don Pedersen each had an RBI for Saugus (18-5, 13-2). Antelope Valley scored twice in the sixth inning on the game’s only two extra-base hits. Saugus won its second straight league championship on Tuesday with a 6-1 victory over Burroughs of Ridgecrest.

SANTA FE LEAGUE

James Miljanich threw a three-hitter with five strikeouts to lead Bell-Jeff to an 8-1 win over Pater Noster. Bell-Jeff, which finished in second place, knocked Pater Noster out of the playoff picture. Sheamus Martin and David Yasumi had three hits each for Bell-Jeff (11-13, 10-4). Mike Cesta had two RBIs in Bell-Jeff’s four-run fifth inning.

Senior Bill Bloodgood hit a three-run home run with two outs in the seventh inning to give Chaminade a 6-4 victory over La Salle (17-4, 13-1). Scott Stuber pitched 5 innings and allowed one earned run and struck out three in his first start of the year for Chaminade (9-12, 7-7). Stuber had two hits, including a sixth-inning home run that tied the score,3-3. La Salle took advantage of four Chaminade errors and scored three unearned runs. Robert Rysdon had two hits and an RBI for La Salle.

DELPHIC LEAGUE

Shaik Nabi scattered four hits and struck out six as Faith Baptist defeated Buckley, 5-3. Steve Weston had two hits for Faith Baptist (12-9-1, 7-3), which finished third in league.

ALPHA LEAGUE

Senior Chris Johnson struck out nine and hit a solo home run in the third inning to lead Village Christian (7-13, 5-9) over Marshall Fundamental, 3-1. Parker Nishi tripled, then scored on Tom Files’ single in the third inning for Marshall Fundamental’s only run. Nishi and Files had two hits each for Marshall Fundamental (4-10).

WESTSIDE LEAGUE

Highland Hall’s Aaron Rudelson had 11 strikeouts in a 7-3 win over Clearview to set a school record of 118. He broke the mark of 115 set in 1981 by his coach, Dave Desmond. Rudelson allowed two hits and one earned run in six innings. Wes Parrish was 1 for 3 for Highland Hall (14-5, 8-0). Highland Hall stole six bases to increase its total to a school-record 174.

LIBERTY LEAGUE

Steve Sokoloff had three hits, three RBIs and scored three runs to lead Oakwood over Queen of Angels, 8-4, at Queen of Angels. David Fond and Greg Oberman had two hits and one RBI each for Oakwood (12-1-1, 10-0). Right-hander Marc Williams threw his seventh complete game of the season and had eight strikeouts.

NONLEAGUE

Ralph Allen had 10 strikeouts to lead Coutin to a 6-4 win over Chadwick’s junior varsity. Brad Hirsch and Tommy Betancourt each had two stolen bases and two RBIs for Coutin (2-14).