La Quinta’s Patchwork Lineup Falls to Tustin

La Quinta High School’s makeshift lineup was no match for top-seeded Tustin Friday as the Tillers advanced to the semifinals for the second consecutive year with a 6-2 victory in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs.

La Quinta played without pitcher Jon Korzen, who was suspended from school for five days this week. Korzen’s absence forced Coach Dan Demarest to move freshman Ken Granger, the team’s starting left fielder, to third base, where he had played only four innings all season.

The results were predictable; La Quinta committed six errors, including two in the decisive sixth inning when Tustin scored three unearned runs.

Afterward, Demarest didn’t make any excuses for the loss.

“You can’t say, ‘I wonder what would have happened if we had Korzen,’ ” he said. “You can sit here and go what if, what if, what if . . . all afternoon. The bottom line is Tustin is a good team and deserved to win. They could go all the way.”

Tustin (25-3) took advantage of La Quinta’s mistakes and used timely hitting to complement the pitching of left-hander Dan Baker (14-1). Baker struck out six of the first nine batters he faced and allowed four hits to gain his sixth consecutive victory.

“He made some adjustments after losing to Newport Harbor and has put a little more jump into his fastball,” Tustin Coach Vince Brown said. “Usually, he starts slowly and finishes strong, but today, he was just the opposite.”

Tustin’s hitters also started quickly. Catcher Ryan Relph gave the Tillers a 2-0 lead when he hit a two-run homer over the center-field fence in the third inning. Tustin had at least one hit in every inning except the fourth and finished with 11 hits.

La Quinta (21-9) cut the deficit to 2-1 when catcher Matt Logan’s homered in the fourth and then tied the score in the fifth after center fielder Chad Faltz misplayed a single that rolled to the fence, allowing Granger to score.

La Quinta committed two errors in the fifth, which led to one run, and two in the sixth, which led to three runs. Tustin third baseman Ben Strack’s two-run double in the sixth inning was the key hit.

“I was moving my infielders all around, and we stayed close for a while,” Demarest said. “I had my closer (Jason Cherms) in there pitching in the third inning and he did a great job. But sooner or later, things were bound to come apart and they did.”

Brown said the team’s goal following a season-ending 7-2 loss to Kennedy at UC Irvine last year was to return to the semifinals this season.

“We wanted to get back, and we’re in that situation again,” Brown said. “This team has improved as the season progressed, and today, we took advantage of their mistakes. We’re getting better with every game.”