BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Garden Grove Strikes Quickly, Beats Buena Park in Tournament

Garden Grove scored five quick runs and made them stand in a 6-2 quarterfinal victory over Buena Park on Monday in the Santa Ana Easter baseball tournament.

The Argonauts (7-7) used a five-hit, five-run first inning to set the tone.

“We had a great first inning, no doubt about it,” Garden Grove Coach Jim Rawls said. “We really hit the ball well and everybody seemed to get into the act. Defense has always been a keynote for Garden Grove teams, but we showed some offensive power in that first inning.”

Garden Grove batted around in the inning, with cleanup hitter Kevin Loken’s double driving in Craig Roberts and Mike Campozano for a 2-0 lead. Gabe Maldonado followed with an RBI single and Jason Rivers delivered a two-run double to make it 5-0.

The lead grew to 6-0 in the second when Bass drove in his third run with a sacrifice fly.

Richie Pohle’s infield single in the third drove in Buena Park’s first run, and Cesar Carillo scored Aaron Hudson on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

The Coyotes (6-5-1) squandered a key scoring situation by leaving the bases loaded in the fourth.

Garden Grove got eight hits off Carlos Bravo (2-1).

Russell Minor (3-1) was the winner, giving up three hits in five innings. Joey Maselli finished for the Argonauts and held the Coyotes without a hit.

Garden Grove advances to play Mission Viejo in one semifinal at 1:30 p.m. today at Rancho Santiago College. Diamond Bar is at Santa Ana at 1:30 in another semifinal.

In other Santa Ana tournament games:

Santa Ana 3, Pacifica 2--Juan Ramirez went the distance with five strikeouts and no walks and Tony de la Riva went two for two with two RBIs to lead Santa Ana (8-7) in a quarterfinal. Of the game’s 14 hits, six were doubles and five were triples. Pacifica is 8-7.

It was the second game of the day for Santa Ana, which beat Germantown JV of Tennessee, 2-1, earlier. Kevin Taylor was two for three with one RBI and Carlos Esparza went the distance, giving up no earned runs with four strikeouts to lead Santa Ana.

Mission Viejo 6, Orange 5--Orange (8-6) rallied from a 6-2 deficit, scoring three runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Mission Viejo pitcher Dave Berlin got Raul Vital to pop up with the bases loaded for the final out in the quarterfinal.

Tyler Kalklosch was three for four with three RBIs for the Diablos (5-7-1).

Villa Park 6, Brea Olinda 5--Sean McMahon’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning brought in Joey Zine with the winning run for Villa Park (7-8) in a consolation game. Brea Olinda is 6-8.

Foothill 11, Germantown (Tenn.) 2--Ryan Zeber was two for three with two RBIs and two runs scored and Tyler Lang went one for three with three RBIs for Foothill (5-8-1) in a consolation game.

In the Pomona Ganesha tournament:

San Dimas 6, Southern California Christian 5--Mark Marquez tripled, drove in two runs and stole three bases for Southern California Christian (4-6). San Dimas (4-6) will play La Puente Bassett. SCC plays Bloomington. Both games are at 3 p.m.

In the Las Vegas Blazer tournament:

El Toro 6, Calvary Chapel 3--Micah Wennekamp singled with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, driving in two go-ahead runs for El Toro (8-7). Joe Smith went three for four with a double, a run scored and an RBI for Calvary Chapel.