EMPIRE LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Cypress Loses to Esperanza, Still Looks Forward to Playoffs

Even a 5-4 loss to Esperanza Friday couldn’t diminish the accomplishments of Cypress’ baseball team this season.

The Centurions have won 10 more games than they did all of last season when they finished 3-19. Cypress also won two of three games against Esperanza in Empire League play for the first time in the school’s history.

What’s more, Cypress (13-8-1, 7-4) needs only one more victory to clinch its first Southern Section playoff berth in 13 years.

“They’ve always had some good players, now they’re a good ballclub,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “They’re doing the right things on the field and playing together well as a team.”

Now, if Cypress could just cure its weakness for one-run losses. Friday’s defeat was the Centurions’ fifth one-run loss, and four of those--to Pacifica, La Quinta, Katella and El Dorado--came in the last inning.

Still, Cypress Coach Don Rayl has plenty to be encouraged about in anticipation of postseason play.

“We’ve lost a couple of close ones before, and the kids have always bounced back,” Rayl said. “We know we’ll come back.”

Curran wishes he could feel the same way about his ballclub. Esperanza (9-11, 4-7) was en route to one of its highest-scoring games of the season, getting five runs in the first two innings, and then had to hold on to win.

“We scored and died,” Curran said. “But do you know how long it’s been since we’ve scored five runs in a ballgame? We had only scored one earned run in our last 21 innings.”

Esperanza has experienced a rare “down year” under Curran, with good reason. The Aztecs graduated eight first-team all-league players who helped them win 26 games last year.

“We graduated the world,” Curran said. Among the missing were the league’s MVP last season, Rich Hills, now starting at shortstop for Oklahoma, and utility player Keith McDonald, now the starting catcher for Utah.

Still, Esperanza managed to score three unearned runs in the first inning by sandwiching four base hits around an errant pickoff throw by pitcher Steve Davis.

Esperanza got two more runs in the second on a run-scoring double by third baseman Billy O’Connor and an RBI single by winning pitcher Jeff Quinn.

Cypress came back with two runs in the second on run-scoring singles by Rob Walshe and Shane Sowers and then added two more in the fifth on a two-run double by first baseman Ken Fann.

Fann had two doubles and drilled a long fly ball to right-center that was caught near the 350-foot sign. He rivals Katella’s Kyle Evans for the distinction as the best hitter in the Empire League.

“Besides being a great hitter, Ken is the finest gentleman you’ll ever meet,” Rayl said.

That much was obvious in the last inning when Fann was hit by a pitch in the left foreman and the ball trickled to the mound. Relief pitcher Randy Wilson picked up the ball and threw to first, where Fann was ruled out.

He never argued the call.

In another league game:

Katella 7, Los Alamitos 3--Kyle Evans (5-3) had nine strikeouts and no walks in the complete-game victory for Katella (13-8, 8-3). Orlando Gonzalez and John Holcomb both had doubles and Jesse Santivanaz had a triple. Katella is 13-8, 8-3.