COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL / SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYOFFS : Estrella Comes Through for Rancho Santiago

Luis Estrella of Rancho Santiago turned in his best pitching performance of the season and as a result, the Dons are one victory away from a berth in the State baseball tournament.

Estrella, a sophomore right-hander, gave up five hits over 8 2/3 innings as Rancho Santiago beat Los Angeles Pierce, 2-0, in the second round of the Southern California playoffs Saturday at Rancho Santiago.

Pierce fell into the losers’ bracket and was eliminated by Saddleback, 8-5. Rancho Santiago (38-9) will play host to Saddleback (26-18) at 11 a.m. today.

Saddleback needs two victories over the Dons to advance.

Estrella (9-1) picked two runners off first and got 14 ground-ball outs, and was one out away from a complete game when he gave up a walk and a single.

Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon then brought in Brian Martineau, who missed the last month of the season because of a broken hand.

But Martineau got John Novak to line back to the him to end the game.

“My slider was working really good for me,” Estrella said. “The coaches like to emphasize little things [like pickoffs]. It kills their rallies and it knocked the wind out of them.”

Rancho Santiago scored in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Brian Carlson and Kyle Evans added a home run, his 11th, in the eighth.

Saddleback defeated Riverside, 12-5, earlier Saturday.

Against Pierce, Saddleback scored three runs in the sixth to open a 7-1 lead. Jose Gonzalez started the inning with a single, stole second and scored on Aaron Sepulveda’s double. Sepulveda took third on a wild pitch and Ace Bedich walked.

Both runners scored on a wild pitch that Pierce catcher Brandon Murphy thought was a foul tip and failed to chase.

Saddleback’s Pat Antrim singled in the first, advanced to second on a wild pitch and later stole third. He scored on a double by Justin Greco. Antrim’s single extended his hitting streak to a Saddleback-record 17 games. His stolen base (37th) was a school single-season record.