UPPER DECK PREP BASEBALL TOURNAMENT : Hills, Newhan Spark Offense as Esperanza Routs El Dorado

Esperanza left little doubt that it is the best high school baseball team in Orange County by beating El Dorado, 14-4, Friday in the championship game of the Upper Deck Tournament at Glover Stadium in Anaheim.

Esperanza (12-1) spotted El Dorado four runs in the first inning and then came back with a vengeance, pounding 11 hits in the final four innings after being shut out in the first three.

Esperanza second baseman David Newhan reached base five times, walking twice, belting a two-run triple, singling and reaching on an error.

Newhan’s triple to the gap in right-center gave Esperanza its first lead, 5-4, in the fifth inning, but the Aztecs were just getting warmed up on a brisk evening.

Esperanza added five runs in the sixth inning and four more in the seventh to avenge a 3-2 loss to El Dorado in Empire League play. The Aztecs averaged more than 10 runs per game in four tournament games. Shortstop Rich Hills said hitting is contagious among his teammates.

“Once someone starts hitting, it doesn’t stop,” Hills said. “Everybody seems to pick it up. It seems like we score 10 runs every game.”

Hills started the hitting spree for Esperanza in the fourth inning after El Dorado pitchers Andy Brazeel and Shawn Holcomb had held the Aztecs hitless. Hills smacked a two-run double that bounced up to the left-field fence and seemed to ignite Esperanza. The hits then came in bunches for the team that will likely be ranked No. 1 in the Orange County Sportswriters’ Assn. first poll Tuesday.

Hills had been slumping in the last two weeks but had two doubles, a single and five RBIs after being dropped from third to seventh in the batting order.

“It doesn’t matter where I bat when we win games like this,” he said. “Hitting becomes a chain reaction on this team. We just needed a spark to get us started.”

Newhan, who was named the most valuable player of the 16-team tournament, said a four-run lead after one inning isn’t enough to keep Esperanza down.

“We were surprised to be down, 4-0, but four runs generally aren’t going to beat us,” Newhan said.

Esperanza’s Keith McDonald, who won a game and saved another earlier in the week, was named the tournament’s most valuable pitcher.

In the third-place game:

La Quinta 5, Tustin 4 (9 innings)--Walter Dawkins hit a sacrifice fly that scored teammate Jim Livernois in the top of the ninth inning and pitcher Brett Osborn retired Tustin in the bottom of the inning to gain the victory.

Tustin (8-4) took a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning on Shawn Green’s run scoring triple but La Quinta scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to send the game into extra innings.

La Quinta (12-3) loaded the bases with one out against Tustin reliever Ben Munoz and tied the game, 4-4, when Tustin shortstop Zach Elliott failed to execute a double play, allowing La Quinta’s Brett Osborn to score.

In other Upper Deck games:

Fountain Valley 6, Westlake 5 (9 innings)--Fountain Valley won seventh place when Eric Siragusa reached first base on an error, stole second, moved to third on a balk, and scored on a wild pitch. Derek Brown hit a three-run homer in the first for host Fountain Valley (14-3). Brian Ponchak (3-1) pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief for the victory.