SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : 4-A BASEBALL SEMIFINALS : Irvine Reaches Unfamiliar Place

What a long, curious, wonderful journey the Irvine baseball team took in the Southern Section 4-A baseball playoffs Tuesday at Rancho Santiago College. And the good news for the Vaqueros is that the trip isn’t over yet.

Thanks to a 4-2 victory over Covina Northview, Irvine advanced to a section baseball championship game for the first time.

Three times in the past, Irvine had reached the quarterfinals only to lose. This time around, the Vaqueros have gone as far as they possibly can, reaching Saturday’s title game at Anaheim Stadium.

Irvine (20-10) will play West Covina South Hills, a 9-3 winner over Savanna in the other semifinal, at 4:30 p.m.

“It’s a big-time thrill,” Irvine Coach Bob Flint said after the Vaqueros pieced together five hits with the three-hit pitching of Ryan O’Toole (9-4).

Irvine scored twice in the fourth inning without hitting a ball out of the infield. The Vaqueros were able to fashion the runs from an infield single, a walk, an error and three fielder’s choices.

And for a while, it seemed as if it would be enough to send Irvine to the title game.

O’Toole, wild early, settled down in the middle innings, retiring eight of nine batters during one stretch. Better still for Irvine, he had yet to allow a hit through five innings.

“He was on the edge, but he pulled it back together,” Flint said.

Just as quickly, things began to sour for Irvine.

Northview right fielder Steve Loaiza singled to left to open the sixth. After O’Toole retired the next two batters, Northview pitcher Dave Hernandez followed with a single to right, moving Loaiza to second.

Catcher Jim Escujuri’s single drove in Loaiza. Hernandez also scored when Irvine center fielder Tommie Louie’s throw to third base sailed into the Northview dugout.

But O’Toole escaped further trouble when he got left fielder Greg Freeman to pop out, ending the inning.

Irvine came back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth and O’Toole set Northview down in order in the seventh.

“I was trying not to think too much out there,” O’Toole said. “I just went right after them.”

Said Flint: “It was his best job of the year, especially when you throw in the pressure of the game.”

Irvine’s hitters made the final inning a little easier on him with the two runs in the sixth. After back-to-back singles by Louie and designated hitter Ryan Jones, Erik Sobec knocked in Louie with a groundout.

The other run scored when Loc Tran executed a perfect squeeze, bunting in front of a surprised Hernandez.

“Every playoff game has been like this,” Flint said. “I remember as a player saying, ‘Hey, give me a ball; I can do something about the game.’ But as a coach you just have to sit there.”

When the season began, who would have known Flint would still be worrying this late in the season? Irvine faced its 1992 schedule with only two seniors and a long list of questions.

But the seniors performed as expected, and the younger players came on strong at the right time.