PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Kessler Pitches Laguna Hills Past Woodbridge

Brian Kessler pitched a one-hitter to lead Laguna Hills High School to a 4-0 victory over Woodbridge in a Pacific Coast League baseball game at Laguna Hills Thursday.

Kessler (3-2) struck out four and walked two for Laguna Hills, which improved to 19-7 and won the league championship with a 14-1 league record.

Laury Schafer had two hits and two RBIs for Laguna Hills.

In other Pacific Coast League games:

Orange 7, Trabuco Hills 5--Rich Prater and Chris Thompson had two hits and Rick Foster hit a three-run triple as Orange (15-10, 11-4) clinched second place.

Laguna Beach 8, Costa Mesa 7 (8 innings)--Aaron Scheid singled home Jason Levinson in the bottom of the eighth to give Laguna Beach (7-16, 6-9) the victory. Mica Brown had four hits, including two home runs and three RBIs. Brown hit a solo home run in the fifth inning and hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 7-7.

In the Garden Grove League:

Pacifica 3, Kennedy 2 (9 innings)--Robert Toth (8-4) pitched a five-hitter, striking out 10 and walking none, to lead Pacifica (16-10, 9-5). Pacifica scored the winning run when Dave Anderson squeezed home Jeff Wozniak, who reached base on a fielder’s choice and took second and third on two errors.

Raul Banuelos had two hits and scored twice for Pacifica. Kennedy (13-12, 9-5) tied Pacifica for third place in league but will go to the playoffs based on a better record against the first- and second-place teams.

Bolsa Grande 8, Rancho Alamitos 4--Rick Tantardini had two hits, including a two-run double, and also stole home to lead host Bolsa Grande. Tony Troung had two hits with two runs scored and three stolen bases for Bolsa Grande (6-17-1, 2-12). Rancho Alamitos is 5-18, 3-11.

La Quinta 3, Garden Grove 2--La Quinta (19-8, 11-3) won by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Anthony Beltran hit a bases-loaded single to score two runs in the seventh. Brian Laipple took third base and Beltran took second on the throw home and Jason Cherms’ groundout scored Laipple from third for the winning run.

In the Empire League:

Loara 4, Cypress 3--Loara (8-17, 6-9) scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to win. Chris Hoffman led off with a single, Mike Gargano followed with a single and both runners took an extra base on the right fielder’s error. Aaron France singled to left, scoring Hoffman, and took second on a wild pitch that scored Gargano to give Cypress a 3-2 lead. Kyle Poffenberger walked, putting runners on first and second, and Charlie Gipson bunted and the throw went into foul territory, allowing Poffenberger and pinch-runner Jim Ballard to score the tying and winning runs.

Katella 5, El Dorado 1--Jess Evans had three hits and Dennis Briggs had two hits and scored three runs to lead host Katella (20-5, 11-4), which finished second in league. Chris Drummond (7-1) pitched a four-hitter, striking out four and walking two for Katella.

Los Alamitos 6, Esperanza 5--Tyler Cashman hit a bases-loaded single, scoring Anthony Napolitano to cap a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning, to give Los Alamitos (10-15-1, 7-8) the victory.

In the Los Alamitos seventh, Doug Kieck hit a leadoff double, took third on single by Todd Gragnano and scored on Napolitano’s infield single to make the score 5-4, Esperanza. Gragnano tied the score when the ball got by the catcher on the throw home. Napolitano went to second on the throw and went to third when Brian Havens and Jay Willemse walked to load the bases for Cashman.

Los Alamitos finished third in league.

Dan Redington hit a solo home run in the second inning for Esperanza (13-2 in league). Dan Stockwell (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh for the victory.

In the Sea View League:

Tustin 3, Saddleback 0--Tustin’s Danny Baker (12-1) pitched a one-hitter and extended his scoreless-inning streak to 23. Baker struck out nine and walked two. Shawn Green had two hits for Tustin (22-3, 14-1), giving him 43, which broke Tustin’s season mark for hits by two.