PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Victory Puts Brea Ahead of the Pack

Brea-Olinda’s baseball team wasted several scoring opportunities, but the Wildcats finally got the winning run in the 10th inning to defeat Valencia, 4-3, Wednesday in an Orange League game.

Brea’s second one-run victory over Valencia moved the Wildcats (12-5-1, 7-1) into sole possession of first place. Valencia (11-6, 6-2) had lost to Brea in the first round of league play by the same score.

Center fielder Eric Wiley scored the winning run from third base when Joe Badillo grounded to short but Valencia failed to complete a double play. Wiley opened the inning with a single to left and then was sacrificed to second.

Brea’s Ryan Ott was intentionally walked and then Matt Pries blooped a single to right to load the bases with one out. When Badillo grounded sharply to short, Pries was forced at second but the throw to first was too late to catch Badillo.

“We had our chances, we just couldn’t get it done until we finally scored in the 10th,” said Brea-Olinda Coach Steve Hiskey. “We gave them a couple of easy runs by making some mistakes in the early innings but came back to tie and then eventually won a good game.”

Valencia took a 3-0 lead in the second inning when it capitalized on two errors. But Brea rallied for two runs by getting four consecutive hits in the second. the Wildcats then tied the score in the sixth with some daring baserunning.

Brea’s Kyle Grubbs singled to open the sixth and was sacrificed to second. Grubbs stole third with two outs and scored when the throw by Valencia catcher Harold Ceron went in the dirt and caromed into left field.

“We were just trying to make something happen in that situation,” Hiskey said. “There were two outs, two strikes on our batter and we hadn’t been hitting. We got lucky there.”

Bryan Noyes (5-1) earned the victory by allowing seven hits and one earned run. Valencia had averaged six runs per game and was batting .280 as a team entering Wednesday’s game.

Finally, the game was delayed 10 minutes before the start of the ninth after Brea catcher Matt Pries hit Noyes in the back of head while attempting a throw to second base. Noyes laid on the ground several minutes but resumed pitching.

In other Orange League games:

Savanna 5, Western 0--Winning pitcher Steve Lindop (4-3), who had a one-hitter, hit a grand slam in the third inning. Rick Barsh hit a triple. Savanna is 10-7, 5-3.

In the Century League:

Santa Ana Valley 5, Orange 4--Jose Sandoval hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie for Santa Ana Valley. Armando Queva and Rick Crosby both had RBIs for the Falcons (8-10, 3-5).

Foothill 9, El Modena 4--Jeff Bailey had two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs, including a home run in the sixth inning for host Foothill (12-5, 6-1).

Canyon 4, Villa Park 3--Matt Kastelic had two hits, an RBI and one run scored and Jarrod Kula retired the final four hitters to earn his second save for visiting Canyon (11-5-1, 5-1-1).

In the Empire League:

Katella 8, Loara 5--Kyle Evans went three for four, with a single, double, home run and two RBIs for Katella (5-3 in league). Loara (7-11, 2-6) scored four runs in the seventh. Jason Hoffman drove in two runs for the Saxons (7-11, 2-6).

Cypress 6, Los Alamitos 5--Ken Fann hit a three-run homer in the second inning for host Cypress. Fann, who has four home runs, also doubled for Cypress (12-6-1, 6-2).

In the Freeway League:

Troy 10, Fullerton 8--Shortstop Brent Coon went three for three, including a two-run home run, as Troy (5-11, 3-4 in league) handed Fullerton (12-5, 7-1) its first league loss.

La Habra 8, Buena Park 2--Rusty Volkert (6-1) had five strikeouts and allowed five hits in six innings for visiting La Habra (10-5, 4-4). Jason Johnson had three hits and two RBIs and Danny Evans had two hits and scored two runs for La Habra.

In the Garden Grove League:

La Quinta 4, Santiago 1--Jim Livernois allowed four hits for host La Quinta (11-6-1, 4-3). Chad Leckie had two doubles and two RBIs and Steve Lemmons hit a two-run single in the fourth for the Aztecs. Santiago is 9-9, 3-4.

Pacifica 9, Bolsa Grande 3--Dan Murray had two hits, stole two bases and scored two runs and Don Anderson had three hits, including a triple, and drove in two runs for host Pacific (12-7, 5-2). Tony Troung had two hits for Bolsa Grande (4-13, 1-6).

Los Amigos 2, Kennedy 1--Joey Portillo hit a two-run double in the top of the sixth to give Los Amigos (2-12, 2-5 in league) the victory at Kennedy. Right-hander Karl Eidlhuber (1-3) allowed an unearned run in the first inning, then shut out the Fighting Irish the rest of the way.

Garden Grove 8, Rancho Alamitos 5--Manuel Vargas and Bryce McHale had home runs for Garden Grove (10-5, 6-1).

In the Sea View League:

Saddleback 6, Corona del Mar 2--Designated hitter Paco Guerrero had a double and two RBIs and shortstop Tony Zuniga had a double and RBI for host Saddleback (14-4, 7-1), which moved into a first-place tie with Tustin.

In the South Coast League:

Capistrano Valley 8, El Toro 3 (9 innings)--Capistrano Valley (15-3, 7-1) scored five runs in the ninth at El Toro. Ethan Wyckoff (4-1) allowed five hits in nine innings for the victory. El Toro is 7-9, 4-4.

Dana Hills 4, Irvine 3--Senior Tim Wolter had a three-run home run in the third and had an RBI single in the fifth for host Dana Hills (13-5, 5-3). Brad Schafer got the final three outs for his third save. Dan Anderson (3-3) pitched sixth-plus innings for the victory.

Mission Viejo 6, San Clemente 2--Eric Sorensen (2-0) pitched a five-hitter for host Mission Viejo (9-8, 2-6). Russ Flory and Neal Caldwell had two RBIs each for Mission Viejo.

In round-robin play at the St. Paul tournament:

Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman 11, Mater Dei 5--Chris Ciraulo had four RBIs and hit a two-run home run to highlight a six-run seventh inning, breaking a 5-5 tie for visiting Cardinal Newman. Although the Monarchs (16-2) lost, they will still play in the tournament championship game at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Cal State Los Angeles.

Dave Knuff had three hits and two RBIs and Cale Carter hit his fourth home run for Mater Dei (16-2).