SUNSET LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Fountain Valley Coach Wins 300th

Fountain Valley’s “little game” earned its baseball coach, Ron LaRuffa, a big victory Friday.

Fountain Valley took advantage of five walks, three errors and two wild pitches to beat Edison, 7-2, giving LaRuffa his 300th victory in 17 seasons.

LaRuffa, one of the most successful coaches in Orange County, earned 237 victories in 13 seasons at Edison before moving to Fountain Valley four years ago. He has won 63 games at Fountain Valley.

Fountain Valley (9-7, 3-2 in league) broke out of a scoring slump after losing to Marina and Huntington Beach by 1-0 scores. The Barons broke open the game in the sixth, scoring three runs off Edison relief pitcher Eric Roysdon.

“We had allowed only 27 earned runs in 15 games before today,” LaRuffa said. “We haven’t made an error in our last six games. But we hadn’t produced a clutch hit before today.

“I thought our little game got us going in the first inning and then we managed to steal a couple of bases and execute a couple of sacrifice bunts. That’s our game.”

Winning pitcher Brian Ponchak (3-1), who entered the game with a .190 batting average, drove in Fountain Valley’s first run with a line single to left. The play seemed to set the tone for the afternoon.

While Fountain Valley continued to take advantage of scoring opportunities, Edison (6-4, 3-2) stranded 11 runners for the second consecutive game.

“We’ve got guys getting on base and then the right guys coming to the plate,” Edison Coach Paul Harrell said. “But for some reason, our best hitters aren’t hitting.”

Edison leadoff batter Adam Cancelleri had three hits, but the Chargers’ third, fourth and fifth hitters, Matt Harrell, Josh Warren and Bill Mullee, had only one hit among them in 12 at-bats.

“We’re not coming up with clutch hits or clutch pitching,” Harrell said. “Somehow, we’ve got to snap out of it.”

Edison starter Shawn Allbee lost his first game of the season after opening with four victories.

Fountain Valley scored two runs in the fourth inning, including one when Allbee threw a wild pitch that sailed to the backstop. The Barons scored in the fifth when Roysdon walked a batter with the bases loaded and then clinched LaRuffa’s milestone victory with three runs in the sixth.

“I just hope the next 300 wins aren’t as tough to get,” LaRuffa joked.

In other Sunset League games:

Marina 8, Westminster 2--Nick St. George pitched a complete game, allowing six hits while striking out seven for visiting Marina (5-8, 2-3). Sean Connors had three hits and two RBIs for the Vikings.

Ocean View 4, Santa Ana 2--Steve Rivera’s two-run homer in the fifth proved to be the difference as the host Seahawks improved to 9-4, 2-3.

Rivera’s homer, his third of the season, gave Ocean View a 4-0 lead. Santa Ana (4-9, 1-4) scored twice in the sixth.

Justin Brunette (3-0) and Mathieu Royer combined on a three-hitter.