El Segundo Beats Gahr, 6-1, in Final : Preps: After trailing, 1-0, Eagles rally to win own tournament for first time in 17 years.

Perhaps the most surprising story in the history of El Segundo High baseball team is that the Eagles had not won their own tournament in 17 years.

That is until Saturday night.

The Eagles captured the 23rd El Segundo Tournament, powering to a 6-1 victory over Gahr--the third-ranked team in the Southern Section 4-A Division--in the championship at Recreation Park.

And El Segundo (20-3) won with one of the least experienced teams in school history. Veteran Eagle Coach John Stevenson has nine juniors and a sophomore on his team.

“They’re young, but they can play,” Stevenson said. “They’ve proved that against good competition. This was a long time coming.”

Gahr (16-6) jumped in front in the first inning when El Segundo starter Brian Wise suffered control problems.

Wise walked four batters in the first, the last being Gahr outfielder Chris Kissling, a .231 hitter, to force in a run.

But El Segundo pushed across a run in the third when shortstop Brett Newell drove in catcher Jeff Poor with a two-out double to the gap in right field.

In the fourth, the Eagles scored four runs off Gahr starter Billy Zapata (1-1) on Ben Anderson’s leadoff home run to center field and a three-run homer by Chris Feeny to right-center field.

Wise (6-1) lowered his earned-run average to 1.38.

The senior left-hander scattered five hits and struck out four. Two of the hits that Wise gave up were bad-hop singles through the infield.

Zapata, Gahr’s No. 3 starter, was forced to start the game because Bobby Post--the Gladiators’ top pitcher at 9-3--was on a college recruiting visit this weekend.

In the junior varsity championship, Brea-Olinda defeated El Segundo, 8-4, in nine innings.