DIVISION V BASEBALL : Calvary Chapel’s Roster of Upsets Includes Big Bear

Calvary Chapel, which already had beaten the top-seeded team in the Southern Section Division V baseball playoffs, added the defending champion to its upset list.

The Eagles scored on an error in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat Big Bear, 3-2, Tuesday in a semifinal game at Orange Coast College.

Calvary Chapel, the third-place team from the Olympic League, advances to play Sierra Madre Maranatha in the final at 2 p.m. Saturday at Blair Field in Long Beach.

The Eagles upset No. 1-seeded Los Angeles Baptist, 4-0, in the second round, then beat Cambria Coast Union, 8-5, in the quarterfinals Friday. Big Bear won the Division V title last season.

Calvary Chapel (20-8) got an outstanding pitching performance from senior right-hander J.J. Sandkamp (10-2). Sandkamp, who has all four Eagle playoff victories, gave up eight hits and two runs, both unearned. He also had nine strikeouts.

“(Sandkamp) pitched very, very well,” Calvary Chapel Coach Joe Walters said. “There is no doubt that he’s the top pitcher in the division.”

As Sandkamp was dominating Big Bear, Calvary Chapel kept frustrating its fans with failed scoring opportunities--until the 10th.

Ryan Blood was hit by a pitch to start the inning. He went to second when Joe Jones walked on a full count. Jones fouled off four pitches with the count full before taking an off-speed pitch that was inside.

Alex Okland then came up in an obvious sacrifice situation. He bunted toward third base and Big Bear catcher Jack Iafrate came out to get it.

Iafrate’s throw toward first went past second baseman Mike Brisson, who was covering first, and into right field, allowing Blood to score the winning run. Okland would have beat the throw.

The Eagles had chances to score in the eighth and ninth, but failed. Jones walked to start the eighth, went to second on a wild pitch and reached third on Okland’s infield single.

But Sandkamp struck out and Jones was out when an attempted squeeze failed. Chance King struck out to end the inning.

Calvary Chapel had runners on first and second in the ninth with two outs but Jerry Quenzler was picked off second to end the threat.

Calvary Chapel had a chance to open a big lead in the fourth. They had a run in, the bases loaded and one out but failed to score again.

“I felt like we could have won it about three times,” Walters said. “But these guys never get down. They just keep coming back.”