BASEBALL SOUTHERN SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS

La Serna 1, Tustin 0--Tustin pitcher Dan Baker walked Glen Huggins with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to give La Serna the 3-A championship.

La Serna (28-5) got only three hits off Baker and hit only six balls out of the infield, but got the biggest break of the game when Pete Garcia collided with Tustin second baseman Jim Reider at first base.

Tustin (26-4) was attempting to complete a double play when Baker fielded Garcia’s bunt with runners on first and second and nobody out. Baker got one out at third, and Tustin third baseman Ben Strack attempted to get Garcia at first.

But Strack’s throw sailed into foul territory when Garcia crashed into Reider, who was covering first. Instead of runners at first and second, La Serna had runners at first and third with one out, and Tustin Coach Vince Brown ordered Baker to load the bases.

“Danny had walked only 30 batters in 91 innings, so we felt very comfortable with the (intentional walk),” Brown said. “We had to play for a force play. It was automatic.”

Baker (14-2) went to a stretch and threw three high fastballs before finally getting a strike. Baker’s fifth pitch, a low outside fastball, marked the end of a pitching duel between Baker and La Serna’s Willie Adams.

Tustin wasted scoring opportunities in the second and third innings against Adams (10-2), who got stronger as the game progressed.

Tustin had runners on second and third with one out in the second inning, but Reider failed to execute a suicide squeeze bunt on a head-high fastball and teammate Ryan Relph was run down between third and home. Reider struck out to end the inning.

Right fielder Shawn Green hit a two-out double off the right-field fence in the third inning but was stranded when Ben Munoz flied to center.