SOUTHERN SECTION 3-A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : Best El Toro Could Do Was Scare Brooks

La Mirada High School had the Southern Section 3-A baseball championship sewn up entering the top of the seventh inning Saturday.

All Eric Brooks, La Mirada’s senior pitcher, needed to do was get El Toro out and the Matadores would win their first Southern Section baseball title.

La Mirada had an 8-0 lead, thanks primarily to Brooks. He had held El Toro to three hits and struck out eight. He also had gone 3 for 4, with a single, double and triple.

Brooks started the Matadores on their way to the big lead by scoring the game’s first run in the second inning. In the sixth, he drove in two more runs with a triple to right center and later scored La Mirada’s eighth run.

All that remained was to finish off El Toro in the seventh and celebrate.

But suddenly, it all started to unravel.

Back-to-back infield hits, an error and a sacrifice fly ended the shutout. A double and three consecutive singles later, agony set in.

Suddenly, a safe, 8-0 lead was 8-4, and it was becoming a little uncomfortable on the Anaheim Stadium mound for Brooks.

“I knew we had it, and mentally I let down a little bit,” Brooks said. “I was real tired. I pitched all five playoff games, and I was trying to rush things.

“I wanted to hurry up and get it over with, but the opposite happened.”

A visit by La Mirada Coach Tony Corrente served to calm the coach more than his pitcher, though. Brooks, outwardly at least, seemed calm.

“You feel kind of helpless,” Corrente said. “He and (shortstop) Chad Drown said, ‘Hey, we’ve got one out. We’re in good shape.’ ”

Corrente had no plans to take Brooks out, no matter the consequences. Brooks had been La Mirada’s ace all season.

He had pitched 98 innings, 68 more than the next most-active pitcher on the staff. He had a 2.06 earned-run average going into Saturday and showed off his talents enough this year to be drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the fourth round of the amateur draft earlier in the week.

Finally, Brooks got Bo Haley, the eighth batter in the inning, to strike out. After a walk to Joel Guerra, he ended the game by striking out Bob Gaskins, preserving the 8-4 victory.

It gave Brooks, who also is considering scholarship offers from Fresno State, Cal State Long Beach and Loyola Marymount, his 15th win this season. Brooks, who lost just once, also raised his strikeout total to 129.

Brooks said he’s undecided upon both a position and his future. Major league scouts foresee him as a catcher, while college coaches are pursuing him as a pitcher.

“I couldn’t tell you what I’m going to do,” Brooks said. “I like hitting and pitching, so I’m not ready to make a decision yet.”

He had 10 strikeouts Saturday, gave up 9 hits and allowed only 3 runners to reach second base or beyond before the seventh inning.

“I never had an inning like that,” Brooks said. “But I never played in the (Southern Section) finals either. I think if I would have stuck with the slider--I had been trying some offspeed stuff--I wouldn’t have had that much trouble.”