DIVISION III : Tustin Plays Its Wild Card, Knocks Off Bishop Amat

Tustin nearly missed making the playoffs--in fact, the Tillers earned a wild-card berth by beating Saddleback in the regular-season finale.

Since then, however, the Tillers have taken their game to a higher plane. Friday at Tustin High, they recorded their biggest victory under first-year Coach Tim O’Donoghue.

The Tillers stunned top-seeded and unbeaten Bishop Amat, 5-4, ending the Lancers’ 27-game winning streak in the biggest shocker of the Division III playoffs.

It was Bishop Amat’s first defeat since a 5-0 loss to Long Beach Millikan in the semifinals of the Division I playoffs last season.

Tustin (20-9-1), which has won six straight, advanced to the semifinals for the fifth consecutive season. It will meet Irvine, co-champion of the Sea View League, and a 14-2 quarterfinal winner over El Rancho, Tuesday at a site to be determined. The teams split two regular-season league games.

Tiller pitcher Tim Wilson (6-4-1), who lasted only an inning in Tustin’s 6-5 victory over Walnut in Tuesday’s second round, went the distance. O’Donoghue wasn’t sure Wilson would start against the Lancers, because the senior left-hander had been hit hard his past two outings.

“It was the toughest decision I’ve had to make,” O’Donoghue said.

But it paid off. Wilson, who almost quit the team this season, withstood a late rally by the Lancers (27-1), with help from his teammates.

But the game nearly slipped away. Wilson and the Tillers appeared to have victory in hand, leading 5-3, with two outs in the seventh inning. But the Lancers (27-1) wouldn’t go away quietly. They got consecutive singles by Mike Lamb, Trevor Woods and pinch-hitter Ernesto Arrendondo to load the bases. Lamb scored to cut the Tillers’ lead to one, when Tustin second baseman Matt France booted Andy Reitz’s grounder.

But the game ended when Nate Baez flied out to left-fielder Ronnie Hall.

Tustin catcher Jon Lauderdale, who has driven in eight runs in four playoff victories, broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth, when he bounced a single up the middle, driving in Derek Baker and Hall with two outs, giving Tustin a 5-3 lead.

It put the Lancers in an awkward position, Bishop Amat Coach Glenn Martinez said.

“We didn’t get to be 27-0 because we’re lucky . . . but trailing that late in the game was something new to us,” he said.

The Tillers sensed an upset early. They took a 2-0 lead on Hall’s RBI single to center, which scored Mando Fonseca with two outs in the first, before Justin Lloyd drove in freshman Chris Collins with one out in the second.

Bishop Amat rallied with three runs in the third to take the lead. Rhett Sanders’ RBI single to center drove in Mike Young, then Woods lined a two-run double to left for a 3-2 lead.

Pitcher Eddie Hernandez (12-1), who went the distance, suffered the loss.

In other Division III games:

Irvine 14, El Rancho 2--Tommy Louie pitched a five-hitter and Irvine had 14 hits, scoring nine runs in the fifth to take a 12-0 lead. The unseeded Vaqueros (23-7) had five players with more than one hit, including Chris Greinke, who had three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Louie allowed five hits, struck out four and walked three.

La Quinta 4, Ontario 1--Kenny Granger struck out Bill Davenport with the bases loaded to end the game at La Quinta. Granger, who has four saves, was the fifth pitcher used by the Aztecs (24-5). The group struck out three and picked off three runners to put La Quinta in Tuesday’s semifinal against Santa Fe.

It is the first time the Aztecs have reached the semifinals since 1978. Steve Combs started, then re-entered in the sixth after Jim Livernois was ejected for hitting a batter. Combs (5-2) got the victory.

La Quinta got two runs in the first, one on a double play and the other on a error. Zane Parkin had an RBI double in the third to give the Aztecs a 3-1 lead. La Quinta scored a run on an error in the fourth.