SAN DIEGO COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL : Pai’s Teammates Come Back to Win

In its first game since the sudden death of teammate Ben Pai Thursday night, Oceanside overwhelmed visiting El Camino, 9-2, in a make up Avocado League baseball game Monday at Oceanside. The scheduled game against El Camino was rained out Wednesday.

Oceanside players wore patches on their uniforms in honor of Pai, 17, who died of acute bronchial asthma after having an asthma attack after playing a recreational basketball game at the Oceanside Boys & Girls Club Thursday. He was having difficulty breathing as he was rushed to the Tri-City Medical Center, where he arrived at 9:40 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 10:19 p.m.

It was the Pirates first game in 10 days.

“It’s great to be back playing ball,” Coach Dave Barrett said. “They were pressing a little too much at first, but then they settled down.”

The Pirates’ eight-run fourth inning opened up the game, with Oceanside’s Terry Vaughn getting two hits and El Camino committing four of its five errors.

Andrew Acevedo (2-1-1) went the distance and struck out 11 for Oceanside (7-2-1, 1-0). Teammate Saul Gutierrez was two for three. Ricky Spears hit a solo home run in the fifth for El Camino (7-4, 1-1).

Pai, a senior, was a starting pitcher with a 2-0 record and a 0.27 ERA.

“He was a part of us, and he still is part of us, just in a different way,” said Barrett. “We don’t want to put pressure on ourselves, we just want to put forth our best effort. The kids are really plugged into that.”

Barrett said team members decided to play Monday after meeting with Pai’s parents, Benjamin Sr. and Edith Gail Pai, over the weekend. Both parents attended Monday’s game.

“They wanted us to play,” Barrett said.

In other Avocado League games:

San Marcos 18, Ramona 7--San Marcos collected eight of its 15 hits and 12 of its 18 runs in the second inning, the same inning Ramona made two errors and walked three batters. Randy Calloway hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs, and Eric Morton was three for four for San Marcos (6-5, 1-1). Ramona dropped to 2-8-1, 0-2. There were 27 hits in the game.

Escondido 7, Carlsbad 2--Neil Small picked up an RBI and two hits for Escondido (4-6, 1-0). Carlsbad dropped to 7-7, 0-1. Pitcher Brian Klungreseter improved to 3-0.

Palomar League

Rancho Buena Vista 7, Vista 3--Junior right-hander George Hadden (2-1) threw a two-hitter against Vista in his second start of the season. Hadden made his first start in a double header against El Capitan two weeks ago and solidified his role as a starter after his performance against Vista (4-8-1, 1-0-1).

Poway 10, Torrey Pines 2--Rob Plarski and Brock Marsh were two for four and Matt Schwenke had two RBIs to lead Poway (6-3-1, 1-1) in Del Mar. Scott Tittrington (2-0) was the winner. Greg Wilbur had a two-run homer for Torrey Pines (5-6, 0-2).

Nonleague

Monte Vista 7, El Cajon Valley 6--With Monte Vista (11-3) trailing, 6-3, in the bottom of the seventh, Ernie Reyes, Vern Mullis and Darren Rucker all walked to load the bases. Reyes scored on Neal Svalstad’s fielder’s choice grounder to second as he beat the throw to the plate. Mullis scored when Curt Howard was hit by a pitch on the head. Rucker scored the winning run on Steve Dolias’ sacrifice fly to right. Robbie Stone (4-1) was the winner in relief. John Baker went two for three for El Cajon Valley (3-5-1).

Holtville 16, La Jolla Country Day 6--For Holtville, Victor Zaragoza scored twice and went three for three. He has six consecutive hits in his last three games. David Rodgers made a diving catch with two outs in the second that saved three runs for Holtville (6-2). LJCD fell to 3-6-1.