SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION 3-A BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : After 12 Innings and Four Hours, Kennedy Takes Step Toward Repeating

Nobody ever said repeating as Southern Section baseball champion would be easy, but defending titlist Kennedy High School found out Friday just how difficult the road back could be.

The Fighting Irish defeated Laguna Hills, 3-2, in the first round of the 3-A playoffs. But how tough was it? Consider:

* The game was nearly four hours old when Kennedy scored the winning run in the 12th inning after Laguna Hills third baseman Tom Lloyd committed two of his three errors.

* Kennedy batters struck out 19 times, including 17 times against Laguna Hills starter Kevin Lovingier. Designated hitter Scott Jones and center fielder Richard Lyon each struck out four times.

* The game went into extra innings, thanks to Laguna Hills’ Jeremy Gillen, who lofted what would be a routine fly in most ballparks over the 300-foot sign in dead center in the fifth inning.

* Kennedy survived a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning when Laguna Hills’ Ted Wilkes hit a shallow fly to left that wasn’t deep enough to risk advancing a runner. Jason Pierson flied to right to end the threat.

* The game ended with the sun setting. The umpires said afterward they had considered suspending the game and resuming play Saturday.

Afterward, Chris Pascal, Kennedy coach, said he thought the game would end in the 12th, despite both teams’ inconsistency at the plate.

“The law of averages says somebody was bound to get a hit for us,” Pascal said. “In our last two games, we’ve struck out 29 times.”

Lovingier, the county leader with 131 strikeouts going into the game, allowed a run-scoring double to Scott Wood in the first inning and an unearned run after a wild pick-off throw in the second to fall behind, 2-0.

But Lovingier struck out at least two batters in six of the next eight innings. He left the game after 10 innings, having thrown 180 pitches. (A Southern Section rule says pitchers may not record more than 30 outs in a game.)

“In the beginning, I wasn’t overly impressed, but then he just got better, and better and better,” Pascal said. “Two days ago, we had our best batting practice in my five years at Kennedy, and then we couldn’t touch the guy.”

Pete Tereschuk, Laguna Hills’ first-year coach, figured his team would win in the eighth when it loaded the bases for its leadoff hitter, Wilkes. Tereschuk said he never considered sending home the runner from third on Wilkes’ fly ball.

“There was no chance whatsoever,” Tereschuk said. “The longer the game went, the better I thought our chances were of winning. The longer Kevin (pitched), the more he was striking out. We had many, many opportunities, and then lost on a couple of routine plays we should have made.”

Scott Jones (6-2) earned the victory, pitching four hitless innings in relief of Brian Faddoul. Kennedy (15-13) advances to the second round Tuesday against Hesperia (17-8) at a site to be determined by a coin flip today. Fourth-seeded Laguna Hills finished 19-8.

In other 3-A games:

Santiago 13, Duarte 3--Santiago (18-7) had a season-high 17 hits, including three each by Marco Perez, Enele Scanlan and Eric Paniagua, to reach the second round against Orange (16-10) on Tuesday. Right-hander Mike Kissell (7-2) earned the victory.

La Quinta 3, John Glenn 0--Jason Cherms hit a home run in the third inning and Walter Dawkins and John Korzen hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth to lead host La Quinta (20-8). Korzen (7-1) pitched three innings for the victory. Dawkins pitched the fourth but walked two, and Brett Osborn finished the game, allowing three hits and picking up his second save.

Tustin 7, Etiwanda 0--Dan Baker pitched a one-hitter to lead host Tustin (23-3), the division’s top-seeded team. Baker (13-1) struck out 10, walked two and faced only 22 batters. He picked off two of the three who reached base. Zack Elliott had two hits and scored three runs and Ryan Relp had two hits and three RBIs for the Tillers.

Bellflower 6, Woodbridge 5--Losing pitcher Jake Palmer gave up back-to-back singles with two out in the seventh inning and Bellflower (15-8) scored the winning run on a fielder’s choice. Woodbridge (13-12) trailed, 5-0, after three innings but rallied behind a two-run single by Dave Smith and a run-scoring single by Jason Ross.