SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : 3-A : Arlington Scores Early and Often to Bury Villa Park

Villa Park High School fell too far behind too early as Arlington built an 8-1 lead after two innings Tuesday en route to a 13-8 victory in a Southern Section 3-A semifinal baseball game at Rancho Santiago College.

Arlington, the second-place team in the Ivy League, advances to the championship game against Troy at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Troy, which won the Freeway League, defeated John W. North, the Ivy League champion, 6-5, in eight innings to also advance to the final.

Mark Wensel and Keith Carroll each had two-run singles for Arlington (20-7) in the first as it opened a 5-0 lead against left-hander Mike Kelly (9-6), who took the loss. Arlington finished with 16 hits.

But it was the second inning that finished off Villa Park, the second-place team from the Century League behind Canyon.

Arlington’s Nate Miller pulled a Kelly fastball over the right-field fence for a three-run home run to give Arlington an 8-1 lead.

“We weren’t picked to do very well when this thing (the playoffs) started,” Dave Ochoa, the Villa Park coach, said. “But we didn’t do too badly. We just came up one game short.”

John Genova of Villa Park (19-11) hit a home run, his third of the season, in the first. Genova was 4 for 4, scored four runs and also had a double.

Rick Leach started for Arlington but was replaced with two outs in the third by Jim Patterson (5-1), who pitched the final 4 innings for the win.

Villa Park cut the lead to 10-6 on a two-run single by Trent Eye in the sixth, but Arlington scored three more runs in the seventh to take a 13-6 lead.