SOUTHERN SECTION 5-A BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Home Run in 7th Beats El Dorado

Jared Janke was hoping for a bloop single, or anything that would keep Diamond Bar High School’s fading playoff hopes alive.

He exceeded those expectations by about 100 yards.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday, Janke hit a ball that easily cleared the 352-foot marker on the left-field fence.

The dramatic two-run home run gave Diamond Bar a 5-4 victory over visiting El Dorado in the second round of the Southern Section 5-A baseball playoffs.

“At least it wasn’t a cheap one,” El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. “He got it all. If you’re around baseball long enough, you’re going to lose some of those.”

Janke (7-3), who also was the winning pitcher with four innings of hitless relief, hit his fifth homer of the season after El Dorado relief ace Shawn Holcomb (5-3) had retired the first two batters in the seventh while trying to protect a 4-3 lead.

But Diamond Bar’s Jim Doyle kept the inning alive with a line-drive single to center.

Janke got a 2-0 fastball from Holcomb, right over the middle of the plate.

“I was just trying to get a base hit,” Janke said. “I didn’t even know it was gone until I saw everybody going crazy in front of our dugout.”

El Dorado, the second-ranked team in Orange County, finishes 20-7. Diamond Bar (20-8) will face Lakewood in Friday’s quarterfinals.

El Dorado jumped on Diamond Bar starter Mike Corominas for three runs in the first on Holcomb’s RBI single and a two-run triple by Brett Tomko.

The Golden Hawks added another in the second when Eric Ayala scored on a throwing error by third baseman Tom Fry.