PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Valencia Wins the Battle for Second

Valencia had plenty of offense and barely enough pitching and defense to hang on to a 10-8 victory Wednesday over Brea-Olinda in a battle for second place in the Orange League at Brea-Olinda High School.

The Tigers (11-10, 7-5 in league), who got 11 hits off four Brea pitchers, are alone in second behind league-leading Western. Brea (12-9-1, 6-5-1) will have to regroup for Friday’s showdown with Western.

“It was a typical game for us,” Valencia Coach Mike Scheetz said. “We had good hitting, we ran the bases well and scored a lot of runs but our defense and pitching was killing us. We’re really struggling, closing up games.”

Valencia had a 9-4 lead going into the bottom of the sixth but had to quell two rallies in the sixth and seventh.

The Wildcats loaded the bases on an error and two walks with no one out in the sixth. Valencia pitcher Ben Esque gave up run-scoring singles to Trevor Lords and John Stoddard before striking out Dan Miller and getting Mike Brambilla, who hit a two-run home run in the first inning, to hit into a double play.

Brea threatened again with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh. After Esque walked Lords, forcing in a run, Art Francis came on and hit John Stoddard with his first pitch to narrow the gap to 10-8. With the winning run at first, Valencia second baseman Rob Petko went deep in the hole to grab Miller’s grounder and threw him out at first.

Luis Garcia, Mike Mebane and Chris Chavarria led the Tiger offense. Garcia had two hits and a pair of runs batted in, Mebane had two hits, including a triple, and Chavarria hit a two-run homer in the second.

In the Empire League:

Cypress 4, Katella 3--Designated hitter John Amaya drove in pinch runner Angel Castillo with a single in the bottom of the sixth to give host Cypress (10-1, 5-7) the victory. Katella is 5-7 in league.

Esperanza 13, Loara 4--Marcus Jones had four hits and two runs scored and Poncho Ruiz had two doubles to lead a 19-hit attack for visiting Esperanza (17-5, 11-1), ranked second in Orange County. Loara is 3-16, 1-11.

Los Alamitos 10, El Dorado 6--Josh Taylor had three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored for host Los Alamitos (13-9-1, 7-5). El Dorado is 14-10, 7-5.

In the Garden Grove League:

Los Amigos 8, Bolsa Grande 5--Mark Dillon had three hits, including a two-run homer, scored two runs and drove in four for visiting Los Amigos (5-15, 3-8). Bolsa Grande is 5-16-1, 2-9.

Santiago 8, Garden Grove 0--Robert Wiemann had a single, double, triple, three RBIs and three runs scored for visiting Santiago (5-6 in league). Luis Perez (2-4) pitched a three-hitter, with eight strikeouts for Santiago.

In the Sea View League:

Irvine 12, Santa Margarita 11 (8 innings)--Chris Greinke drove in Eric Sobeck from third with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth for Irvine (18-6, 9-2), the top-ranked team in the county.

Tustin 7, Corona del Mar 4--Derek Baker and Ronnie Hall each hit two-run home runs for visiting Tustin (14-8-1, 7-4). Corona del Mar is 3-8 in league.

University 8, Saddleback 0--Winning pitcher Chris Toomey (4-2), Spencer Illingworth and Riley Breckenridge combined on a two-hitter for visiting University (15-7-1, 6-4-1). Saddleback is 8-13, 3-8.

In the South Coast League:

Mater Dei 9, El Toro 4--Winning pitcher Mike McDonald had two hits and three RBIs, pitching six innings while allowing four hits and two earned runs for host Mater Dei (17-5, 9-3), ranked fourth in Orange County. El Toro is 12-11, 6-6.

Mission Viejo 15, Dana Hills 0--Center fielder Eric Fielding led off the game with a home run, starting a six-run first for the host Diablos (12-9, 6-6), who had 15 hits. Dana Hills is 7-5 in league.

San Clemente 9, Capistrano Valley 5--Winning pitcher Steve Sutherland (2-2) homered and struck out six in six innings for San Clemente (7-12, 3-9). Capistrano Valley is 4-8 in league.