PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Laguna Hills’ Lovingier Pitches No-Hitter

Kevin Lovingier pitched a no-hitter, striking out 19 and walking one, to lead Laguna Hills High School to an 18-0 victory over Costa Mesa in the Pacific Coast League baseball opener Friday at Costa Mesa.

Lovingier also had two hits and scored four times. Jim Reynolds had four hits, including a home run, three runs scored and three runs batted in, and Ted Wilkes had three hits, including a home run, three runs scored and two RBIs for Laguna Hills (4-4 overall, 1-0 in league play).

In other Pacific Coast League games:

Trabuco Hills 9, Laguna Beach 7--Josh Sewell had three hits and three RBIs and Ryan Meredith (3-0) had two hits and was the winning pitcher for visiting Trabuco Hills (5-0, 1-0). Steve Height had two hits and scored twice and Jason Orcutt added two hits for the Mustangs. Trabuco Hills led, 8-0, until the fifth inning, when Laguna Beach scored six times.

Alex Mann had two hits, two RBIs and scored a run and Jason Levinson had two hits, including a home run, for Laguna Beach (1-8, 0-1).

Orange 2, Woodbridge 1 (8 innings)--Chris Thompson walked with the bases loaded in the eighth and Jesus Romo scored the game-winner for the host Panthers. Romo had reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to second on a single by Jeff Peterson and to third on a walk to Greg Folsom.

Ruben Hernandez (1-0) had seven strikeouts in seven innings for the victory for Orange (2-5, 1-0). The Panthers’ first run came in the fifth on a sacrifice by Jason Smith to tie the score at 1-1. Woodbridge had scored in the second.

In the Century League:

Canyon 2, Santa Ana 1--Mike Casagranda (1-0) allowed six hits and had four strikeouts in seven innings for host Canyon (2-5, 1-0). Canyon scored its runs in the second on four consecutive two-out singles. Casagranda singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Lee Torres. Greg Tippin singled to advance Torres to second, and Chris Snitko’s single scored Torres.

Villa Park 4, El Modena 2--Todd Blyleven (2-0) had 12 strikeouts and allowed six hits in picking up the victory at Villa Park (5-1-1, 1-0).

Matt Quint had three hits, including two doubles, and Danny Strapp had two hits for Villa Park. Mike Stevens added two RBIs with a sacrifice fly and bunt for the Spartans.

El Modena scored twice in the first inning, but Villa Park got two back in the second. The Spartans added single runs in the fourth and fifth.

In the Empire League:

Katella 9, Loara 3--Danny Allen (2-1) allowed 10 hits but had nine strikeouts for Katella (7-1, 1-0) at Boysen Park in Anaheim. Brandon Farley had a double, triple and three RBIs and Jeff Evans had two hits and four RBIs for Katella. Allen and Brian Franklin had two hits each for the Knights. Loara is 1-7, 0-1.

Esperanza 5, El Dorado 4--Esperanza (5-2, 1-0) scored four times in the bottom of the seventh, aided by two hit batters and a walk with the bases loaded and two out. El Dorado held a 4-2 advantage at the time. Esperanza’s Dan Redington had two hits and one RBI, and Mark Svoboda hit a home run for El Dorado.

Los Alamitos 8, Cypress 7--Brandon Barbosa had two hits, including a two-run home run in the second inning, to lead Los Alamitos (2-5-1, 1-0). Jay Willemse added two hits and Todd Gragnano (1-0) had a two-run double in the second inning en route to picking up the victory. Cypress is 1-7, 0-1.

In the Freeway League:

Troy 4, Sunny Hills 2--Greg Windell pitched a five-hitter for visiting Troy (1-2, 1-0). Steve Friedrich had three RBIs and two hits, including a two-out, two-run single in the fourth, to give Troy a 3-1 lead. Sunny Hills is 3-5, 0-1.

In the Orange League:

Western 4, Brea-Olinda 1--Eric Dowell pitched the first five innings for the victory for visiting Western. Brea-Olinda, which was limited to four hits, is 5-4, 0-1.

Anaheim 6, Valencia 5--Anaheim scored four times on four consecutive bases-loaded walks in the seventh to win at home. Anaheim led, 2-1, in the seventh but Valencia scored four times to take a 5-2 lead. Danny Castro had three hits and Tony Krenn had a home run and two RBIs for Anaheim (3-4, 1-0). Valencia is 4-2, 0-1.

In the Sea View League:

Saddleback 3, Estancia 2--Tommy Smith hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to break a 2-2 tie for host Saddleback (5-2, 1-0). Robert Reyes had nine strikeouts and allowed four hits and two unearned runs in seven innings for the Roadrunners. Gary Burrows had two hits for Estancia (4-3, 0-1).

Tustin 12, University 2--Ben Munoz had four hits and two RBIs, Shawn Green had two hits with a solo home run and Brett Hardy and Brian Gill each had three hits for Tustin (6-1, 1-0). Tustin totalled 18 hits at University. Dan Baker pitched a five-hitter with six strikeouts.

In nonleague games:

Capistrano Valley Christian 8, Army-Navy Academy 2--Paul Connon (2-0) pitched four innings and picked up nine strikeouts for visiting Capistrano Valley Christian (5-0). Connon allowed four hits and two unearned runs. He also had a two-run double.

Garden Grove Claremont 13, Van Horn 3--Bob Tipton had four hits, including a double, and had two RBIs and two runs scored. Rich Barona (1-0) struck out five in two innings of relief.