GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Santiago Goes Nine Innings to Take Share of First Place With 7-6 Victory

Santiago High School is finally back in first place in the Garden Grove League.

And the Cavaliers got there in historic fashion. Santiago Coach Myron Pines said the 7-6, nine-inning victory Friday over visiting La Quinta was the first time his school had beaten La Quinta in baseball in 17 years.

Santiago did it despite making eight errors, losing a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning, and falling behind, 6-4, in the eighth.

David Smith, who had popped up four times, drove in Adrian Borbon with the winning run on a single to center field with one out in the ninth.

“I don’t know how we did it,” Pines said. “I wish I could tell you our secret, but these kids have something in them. What it comes down to is some kids do it, and some kids don’t. These kids do it.”

Santiago (15-7, 9-3 in league play), tied with La Quinta for first, is now in position for at least a share of its first league championship since 1969, when the Angels’ Bert Blyleven was the Cavaliers’ ace pitcher.

Friday, Pines had to go to Marco Perez, his starting second baseman, to pitch the ninth inning. Reliever Mike Kissell had recorded his 30th out of the week on a strikeout in the eighth and could no longer pitch, according to Southern Section rules.

Perez (1-0) pitched his way out of a jam in the ninth after the Cavaliers made two errors. Two throwing errors after an RBI single by Matt Logan allowed La Quinta (17-8, 9-3) to score twice in the top of the eighth to break a 4-4 tie.

But the Cavaliers tied the score in the bottom of the inning when Erick Paniagua drove in Perez with a two-out double down the right-field line. Steve Garza followed with a single, and Paniagua scored the tying run.

Both teams used four pitchers. La Quinta’s Jason Cherms (0-3) took the loss.

In other league games:

Pacifica 9, Bolsa Grande 3--Pacifica (14-10, 7-5) scored five runs in the top of the fourth inning to make the score 8-0. Raul Banuelos hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Pacifica’s Mark Flatten had three hits and an RBI and Bob Anderson had two hits and an RBI for Pacifica. Bill Kercher had a two-run single in the fourth for Bolsa Grande (5-16-1, 1-11).

Kennedy 8, Los Amigos 7--Rod Rosales had three hits, two stolen bases and scored three runs, and Craig Roah had one hit and an RBI to lead visiting Kennedy (13-12, 8-4). Brian Faddoul (6-4) had seven strikeouts for Kennedy.

Garden Grove 3, Rancho Alamitos 2--Joe Aguirre pitched a one-hitter, an infield single in the third, and had nine strikeouts for host Garden Grove (9-12, 6-6). Garden Grove scored three runs in the first inning on a two-run double by Aguirre and an RBI double by Robert Ewing.