DIVISION II : Temecula Valley Leaves Canyon Stuck at Home

The “what ifs” piled up pretty quickly in the last two innings as Canyon lost to Temecula Valley, 5-2, in a Southern Section Division II quarterfinal baseball game Friday at Canyon.

The No. 1 question: What would have happened had Eric Valent completed his seventh-inning at-bat?

Valent, Canyon’s No. 3 hitter who had six home runs and drove in 35 runs this season, was the potential tying run when he came up with two on and two out.

With the count one ball and two strikes, pitcher Kevin Wyatt threw a ball that went off the glove of catcher Roddy Friar. Canyon’s baserunners started toward second and third but were trapped when Friar quickly recovered and ran toward second.

Casey Wilson was tagged out to end the game.

“We sort of ran ourselves out of that last inning,” Canyon Coach Mike Najera said. “I guess we were a little impatient.”

Wilson and Darren Chandler had singled with two outs to bring up Valent.

“You have to wonder what would have happened with Valent up there,” Temecula Valley Coach Rich Emard said.

It is the second consecutive year that Temecula Valley has beaten Canyon in the quarterfinal round at Canyon. Last year, the score was 3-2.

Canyon also missed a chance in the sixth. Valent, who had two hits, already had scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 5-2.

Ruben Lopez was up with two outs and chopped a ball up the middle. On the swing, Lopez appeared to have made contact with catcher Friar’s glove but none of the three umpires saw or heard it.

Lopez beat the play at first but Josh Gutierrez, who was on second when the play started, was thrown out trying for the plate. Had catcher’s interference been called, there would have been two on.

“It was definitely catcher’s interference,” Najera said.

Temecula Valley’s Jason Gause did a majority of the damage to Canyon (22-6).

Gause had a two-run double in the sixth to put the Bears ahead, 4-1. He also scored on the play when the relay throw, intended for third base, went into the Canyon dugout.

In the fourth, Gause was up with two outs and runners on second and third. Canyon starter Gunnar Strunz was ahead in the count, one ball and two strikes. Strunz threw a fastball that was called a ball, although it appeared it could have just as easily been called Strike 3.

On the next pitch, Gause lined a single to center to put Temecula Valley ahead, 2-1.

Canyon had scored its first run in the second when Strunz doubled in the gap in left-center and Todd Wyatt followed with an RBI single to right.

Strunz (5-2) gave up five hits and five runs, four earned, in 5 1/3 innings.

Kevin Wyatt (11-2) gave up nine hits in the complete-game victory. Temecula Valley (20-8), which has won 11 of its last 12 games, will play Cerritos Gahr in the semifinals Tuesday.