Saddleback Beats Tustin, Leads by 2

George Saldana had three hits, including two doubles, to lead Saddleback High School to a 7-3 Sea View League victory at Tustin on Wednesday.

Mike Arroyos (7-0) scattered eight hits for the victory, which increased Saddleback’s league lead to two games. Tustin dropped into a second-place tie with Estancia with five games left.

One of Saldana’s doubles, a two-run hit in the third, highlighted a four-run third inning that broke a 1-1 tie. Tustin (13-7, 7-3) scored two runs in the bottom of the third, but Saddleback (15-5, 9-1) scored twice in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

“We put the ball in play a lot against them, but everything seemed to be routine for them today,” said Vince Brown, Tustin coach.

Home runs by Saddleback’s Jose De Santiago in the first and Tustin’s Ryan Relph in the second made the score 1-1.

Frank Larriva led off the Saddleback third by reaching base on an error. After Ky Phan forced Larriva at second on a sacrifice attempt, sophomore Dan Baker (3-3) walked De Santiago and allowed a line drive single by Arroyos to load the bases.

After a visit by Brown, Baker walked Sean Therien to force in a run. Saldana hit a line-drive double to left to score De Santiago and Arroyos. Therien, who went to third on Saldana’s double, scored on Paul O’Hearn’s sacrifice fly.