GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Santiago’s ‘Smurfs’ Score Another Big Victory Over Kennedy

Santiago High School’s baseball players are unlikely to strike terror in a pitcher’s heart by digging in at the plate.

Even their coach admits as much.

“Our guys are all about 5-feet-10, 155 pounds,” Myron Pines said. “I call them the Smurfs.”

Undersized or not, Santiago has been toppling giants this season. The Cavaliers earned another Garden Grove League victory Friday, beating visiting Kennedy, 6-3.

Santiago (10-4, 4-0 in league) took over first place in the Garden Grove League, a game ahead of Kennedy (5-6, 3-1), La Quinta and Los Amigos.

A Garden Grove championship would be Santiago’s first since 1968, when the Angels’ Bert Blyleven was the school’s top pitcher.

“I really don’t know how we’re doing it, to tell the truth,” Pines said. “We’ve got no real strengths, but then again, we’ve got no real weaknesses either.”

Friday, the Cavaliers won with timely hitting, smart baserunning and clutch defense.

Santiago scored three times in the first inning with the help of an error by Kennedy first baseman Min Son. But the Fighting Irish tied the score on a pair of mammoth home runs--a second-inning solo shot by Scott Jones and a two-run blast by Scott Wood in the third.

Santiago catcher Adrian Borbon broke the tie with an opposite-field RBI single in the fourth. The Cavaliers added two runs in the fifth on a triple by second baseman Marco Perez, a sacrifice fly by Enele Scanlan and Erick Paniagua’s RBI single.

Right-hander Robert Leon (3-1) got the victory in relief, and Mike Kissell shut down Kennedy in the seventh for his second save. Kennedy’s Brian Faddoul (3-2), who pitched a perfect game a week ago against Bolsa Grande, was the loser.

A big test for Santiago will come Wednesday, when the Cavaliers travel to La Quinta. Theyhaven’t defeated La Quinta in baseball in 15 years.

In other league games:

Garden Grove 2, Pacifica 1--Joe Aguirre, a junior left-hander, pitched a two-hitter, striking out five and walking one, to lead host Garden Grove (4-5, 2-2). Donnie Johnson had two hits and an RBI and Raul Gonzales had two hits and scored twice for Garden Grove.

Los Amigos 7, Rancho Alamitos 4--Bill Speer allowed seven hits, struck out six and walked three to lead host Los Amigos (4-7, 3-1). Speer had two hits, scored one run and had one RBI and John Morgan had three hits, scored twice and had two RBIs for Los Amigos.

La Quinta 9, Bolsa Grande 3--Jason Cherms had three hits and scored twice to lead host La Quinta (9-4, 3-1). Kenny Granger had two hits and three RBIs for La Quinta.