Dons’ Treul Hits for Cycle in Victory

Rancho Santiago is in prime position to win its first State baseball title today and Tony Treul is one of the major reasons why.

Treul hit for the cycle, finishing with five hits, as the Dons crushed Sacramento, 13-1, Sunday at Union Stadium on the Sacramento campus.

Rancho Santiago (40-9) plays Sacramento at 11 a.m. today for the championship, needing to win one game. Sacramento (32-5), which beat Laney College of Oakland (38-12), 8-4, in the elimination game Sunday, must win twice.

Treul is eight for nine with two home runs, and has driven in seven runs in two tournament games. He is hitting .514 (18 for 35) in eight postseason games. Treul, a sophomore center fielder from Magnolia High School, is hitting .348 overall.

“I guess it’s called being in a zone,” Treul said. “I’ve really never been in it before. I’m just feeling a lot more confident.”

He singled in the first, had a double in the third, walked in the fifth, tripled in the sixth, hit a two-run home run in the eighth and added an RBI single in the ninth. He has four home runs this season.

Darren Troilo added a home run in the ninth for Rancho Santiago, which had 13 hits. The Dons spent most of the season as the top-ranked team in Southern California and No. 2 in the state behind Sacramento.

The Dons also got solid pitching from Brandon Hoalton, who was voted the Southern California pitcher of the year Saturday.

He threw a four-hitter, getting 15 flyouts. Four of the outs were the result of outstanding catches.

Matt Kastelic reached over the left-field fence to take away a home run from Matt Erwin in the first that would have tied the score, 2-2.

David Gonzalez made two sliding catches in right and Treul ran down a ball to prevent a run for scoring.

Hoalton is 12-0, one victory shy of the Rancho Santiago single-season victory record set in 1986 by Mike Schwabe.

“My slider was the pitch that was working today,” said Hoalton, a freshman right-hander from Garden Grove High School. “I saw (Sacramento) yesterday, so I wasn’t that nervous. I think there are better hitting clubs in our conference.”

Gonzalez had two doubles and drove in two runs. Troilo and Steve Thobe also drove in two runs each and Derek Brown had three hits for Rancho Santiago, which scored four runs in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead.

Sacramento starter Brian Brewer (10-2) walked six and gave up four hits in 4 2/3 innings to take the loss. He walked four in the fifth.

This is the third time Rancho Santiago has reached the final day of the season needing one victory to claim the title. The Dons lost twice to College of the Canyons in 1986 and were beaten twice by Sacramento in 1988.