PREP BASEBALL / SOUTHERN SECTION SEMIFINALS : Diamond Bar Gains 5-A Final

Diamond Bar High scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out a 5-4 victory over Placentia El Dorado Tuesday in a Southern Section Division 5-A semifinal at Cal State Fullerton.

Pitcher Shawn Holcomb, who pitched the final three innings for El Dorado, suffered his second loss of the season to finish 11-2.

The game marked the second straight year Diamond Bar eliminated El Dorado in the postseason. Last year, Diamond Bar’s Jared Janke hit a two-run homer off Holcomb with two out in the seventh inning to eliminate the Hawks by the same score, 5-4.

This time, Janke hit a hanging curveball by Holcomb on a 1-2 count for a double that put runners on second and third with Diamond Bar trailing, 4-2, in the bottom of the seventh.

Holcomb, who had been drafted by the California Angels only 24 hours earlier, never recovered.

He walked Aaron Armstrong to load the bases and then watched as the Brahmas tied the score when El Dorado second baseman John Street threw wildly to second for a forceout. Diamond Bar’s Chad Overacker won the game with a line-single to left that scored Armstrong.

“This is the lowest low,” Holcomb said afterward. “Those guys are good. That’s all I can say.”

Diamond Bar (28-1) won its 25th consecutive game and is attempting to become the first top-seeded team to win the large-school division since Lakewood in 1970.

Diamond Bar will play Long Beach Millikan at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Anaheim Stadium.

Janke, who relieved starter Mike Corominas in the sixth inning, improved to 11-0.

El Dorado (23-6) had a 13-game winning streak snapped.