El Dorado Comes Up Short Again : Division 5-A: No. 1 Diamond Bar scores three runs in seventh to oust Golden Hawks for the second consecutive season, 5-4.

The final score was strangely familiar. The last-inning rally was remarkably reminiscent. And it all meant that El Dorado had suffered its second consecutive heart-breaking loss in the Southern Section 5-A baseball playoffs.

Diamond Bar scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off El Dorado ace Shawn Holcomb to stun El Dorado, 5-4, Tuesday in front of a capacity crowd of 1,850 at Cal State Fullerton.

It marked the second year in a row that Diamond Bar has eliminated El Dorado in postseason play. Last season, Diamond Bar’s Jared Janke hit a two-run homer off Holcomb with two outs in the seventh inning to beat the Golden Hawks by the same score.

This time, Janke hit Holcomb’s hanging curveball on a 1-2 count for a double to put runners on second and third with no outs and Diamond Bar trailing, 4-2. Holcomb, drafted by the Angels 24 hours earlier, never recovered.

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

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

Diamond Bar (28-1) won its 25th consecutive game by keeping its composure. The Brahmas are attempting to become the first top-seeded team to win Division 5-A since Lakewood won in 1970. Diamond Bar will meet Long Beach Millikan, a 5-0 winner over Bishop Amat, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Anaheim Stadium.

The Brahmas also kept their No. 1 national ranking by USA Today and Baseball America with a rally that Coach Kent Neil said is very characteristic.

“This is not the most physical group you’ve ever seen, but they’re very composed and they like to compete,” Neil said. “We’ve been down a couple of times this year and come back, but never in this type of game and under these circumstances.

“I thought this was as good a high school game as I’ve ever been involved in. It was fun, and even more fun when we got the win.”

El Dorado, which finished the season 23-6, rallied in the sixth inning when it scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead. Holcomb sparked the Golden Hawks with a drive that one-hopped the fence at the 380-foot sign in right-center for a triple.

Holcomb finished with two singles, a triple and a sacrifice fly to cap a remarkable four-game run in the playoffs. Earlier, he had won two games and saved another pitching and hit a single, double and home run in El Dorado’s 13-3 victory over Mater Dei in the quarterfinals.

But Holcomb would have traded all the glory for the one pitch he threw to Janke in the seventh.

“I wanted him,” Holcomb said. “I got strikes on him and then made a horrible pitch. I hung a curveball and he drilled it.”

El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti, who lost for the third time in five trips to the semifinals, said there was a championship atmosphere at Cal State Fullerton, where some fans waited in line 45 minutes to purchase tickets. About 200 more lined the outfield fence to watch after the game was sold out.

“I told the team that it was a shame this game wasn’t for the championship,” Gullotti said. “Both team’s battled, but it’s Diamond Bar’s year. Give them credit, they beat our best pitcher.”

Janke, who relieved starter Mike Corominas in the sixth inning, earned his 11th consecutive victory. El Dorado’s 13-game winning streak ended as a county school failed to reach the 5-A title game for the first time since 1984.