PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Down by Eight, Huntington Beach Rallies

Fourth-ranked Huntington Beach scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to overcome an eight-run deficit and beat No. 5 Edison, 12-11, Tuesday in the Sunset League opener at Huntington Beach High.

The Oilers (8-1, 1-0 in league) fell behind, 8-2, in the second inning, trailed, 9-3, after the third and were down, 11-3, in the fifth inning before their offense came alive.

Singles by Jason Segal and Brad Lineberger chased Edison (5-2, 0-1) starter Jamie Surdock in the fifth. The Chargers’ Travis Clutter retired the first two batters he faced before a walk to pinch hitter Jeff Nutting loaded the bases. Left fielder Scott Palmer then hit a 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall for his second home run of the season to cut the deficit in half.

Clutter walked in another run before escaping the inning with a three-run edge.

In the sixth inning, Clutter walked two, including Palmer with two outs. Jeremy Vidales then hit a run-scoring single, followed by an RBI double by Craig Daedelow to pull the Oilers within one.

Huntington Beach tied the score in the bottom of the seventh with two singles and two hit batsmen, before Jim Brewer’s RBI groundout to short scored the winning run.

In another Sunset League game:

Westminster 4, Fountain Valley 3--Kent Montgomery, who transferred to Westminster from Fountain Valley, defeated his former teammates, pitching a four-hitter and driving in the deciding run as the Lions upset the No. 2 Barons.

Montgomery (3-0), who allowed four hits, got all the offense he needed in the fifth inning. Trailing 2-0, a hit batsman, two base hits and another hit batsman loaded the bases, and Johnny Matlock’s two-run single made it 3-2. Montgomery’s fielder’s choice drove in the final run.

The Lions (6-3, 1-0) won despite committing four errors; all of Fountain Valley’s runs were unearned.

Fountain Valley (8-1, 0-1) had the tying run on third base when Montgomery induced a game-ending double play ground ball to second base.

In the Century League:

Orange 15, Canyon 14 (5, darkness)--Nick Estrada’s fielder’s choice scored Eric Roden with the winning run for Orange (5-3, 1-1). Roden homered, scored three runs and drove in three for Orange. Gunnar Strunz had three doubles and drove in four for Canyon (4-3, 1-1).

In the Sea View League:

Tustin 7, Saddleback 5 (8)--Aaron Gallegos’ suicide squeeze scored Jeff Cunningham with the winning run in the top of the eighth for Tustin (6-3, 1-0).

Irvine 7, Newport Harbor 5--David Hongslo hit a three-run homer and drove in six runs to lead visiting Irvine (5-5, 1-0).