GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Alamitos Gets the Best of Pacifica, 3-0

The pitching and hitting of Rancho Alamitos’ Marshall Brown led the Vaqueros to a 3-0 victory over host Pacifica Wednesday, further clogging the middle of the Garden Grove League standings.

Brown (4-2) consistently found the strike zone with his breaking pitches, hit a run-scoring triple and scored on a wild pitch to lead the Vaqueros (13-5, 5-4 in league) into a third-place tie with the Mariners (10-11, 5-4). Brown struck out five, walked only two and gave up five hits.

“Early in the year, (Brown) struggled and was throwing too hard,” Vaquero Coach Jeff Osterode said. “But he backed off a little and throws more strikes with his curve than with his fastball. Today he was also throwing his changeup and was mixing them up real well. He kept (Pacifica) off balance.”

Rancho Alamitos took a 1-0 lead in the second after Josh McRae beat out an infield single and went to third on Jeff Byrd’s single to right. Byrd was caught in a rundown between first and second, but McRae scored when the next batter, Anthony Callari, hit a ground ball that rolled through the legs of Mariner third baseman Marty Kinchloe.

Callari reached base again in the fifth on another Pacifica infield error and scored when Brown’s deep drive to left-center was good for a triple. Brown came home with the final run on Josh Dean’s wild pitch to Tony Luce.

Pacifica’s only scoring threat occurred in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Brown walked Scott Nelson and Matt Bowyer beat out an infield single deep in the hole to shortstop to put runners on first and second. But, Brown got Jeff Depippo to pop up to third baseman McRae to end the threat.