Prep Wednesday : SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : 4-A Baseball : Diablos Come Back, Hold On : Mission Viejo Scores 5 in 7th Before Santa Ana Finishes a Run Short

Sparked by Damon Hubbart’s two-run single and Troy Kopp’s three-run home run, Mission Viejo High School scored five runs in the seventh inning Tuesday to defeat Santa Ana, 12-11, in a Southern Section 4-A second-round game at Santa Ana.

After the Diablos took a 12-8 lead in the top of the seventh, they had to hold off Santa Ana after shortstop Octavio Medina hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 12-11.

The rally was cut short when winning pitcher Jeff Hawkins (4-0) struck out Phillip Flores to end the game.

The victory advances Mission Viejo (20-6) to Friday’s quarterfinals, where it will play South Hills (18-7), a 6-0 winner over Western Tuesday.

Santa Ana ends its season with a 17-10 record.

Mission Viejo took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run single by Hawkins. But Santa Ana scored four runs in the bottom of the inning.

Mission Viejo spent the next six innings chasing the Saints, tying the score five times before finally overtaking them on Hubbart’s two-run single, one that center fielder Dave Fausto chased, but with the sun in his eyes, could not catch.

“This team will not fold at any time, no matter how much they’re down,” Mission Viejo Coach Ron Drake said. “There’s a lot of heroes on this ball team, but nobody will ever say die.”

The same could be said for Santa Ana’s offense. Especially Medina, who went three for five with a home run and three RBIs. Defensively though, the Saints had their troubles, making three errors.

“For some reason, we had trouble with the sun today, we’ve never had that problem before,” Santa Ana Coach Bill Ross said. “And we had too many walks (five, including three by reliever Victor Rios in the final inning). But that’s high school baseball.”

Hawkins (4-0) gave up three hits--including Medina’s home run--and two walks and struck out three in the final two innings for the victory. Jesse Rosas (6-4) gave up nine hits and two walks and struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings for the loss.

In other 4-A games:

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 9, Foothill 7--Chad Rapliff had two hits and scored four runs for host Notre Dame (25-5). Kevin Milugan had two RBIs for Notre Dame. Tommy Hawkins had two hits and three RBIs for Foothill (19-8).

South Hills 6, Western 0--The Huskies (18-7) scored five runs in the first three innings at South Hills.