SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : 4-A : Irvine Holds On to Defeat Valencia

Irvine’s offense made a quick appearance, then vanished, but did enough damage in that time to help the Vaqueros to a 3-2 victory over Valencia in a Southern Section 4-A first-round playoff game Friday.

Irvine scored three runs on four hits in the first inning, and had one hit and a total of two baserunners the rest of the way against Jason Hanmer (8-1), who took the loss.

Valencia loaded the bases in the third and failed to score, then had a runner on third with no one out in the fifth but couldn’t score that time either against sophomore right-hander Tom Louie. But the Tigers finally got to him in the sixth.

Chris Draft had an RBI double and scored on a single by Jason Secoda, who was the last batter Louie (4-4) faced. Valencia’s Chris Irion reached base when reliever Scott Seal’s third strike was in the dirt. Secoda, who had gone to second earlier on a wild pitch, took third on the play.

But Seal got Ryan Roskelly to ground into a double play to end the inning. It was the first double play Roskelly hit into this season.

Seal allowed a leadoff single to Eric Ensman to start the seventh but got the next three batters for his second save.

Irvine’s first-inning rally started with a single by Chris Greinke. Seal then tripled and scored on a single by Jason Minici. Minici stole second and scored one out later on a single by Ryan Jones.

Irvine plays Riverside Arlington Tuesday in the second round at a site decided by a coin flip today.