Alemany Goes Under in Flood of Runs, 11-1

Fountain Valley High ignited for seven runs in the seventh inning to blow open a close game and defeat Alemany, 11-1, in the second round of the Southern Section Division I baseball playoffs Tuesday at Alemany High.

Fountain Valley (23-3), ranked 11th in the nation by Baseball America, roughed up four Alemany pitchers for 13 hits, including home runs by Daniel Keller and Greg Hanoian.

Keller’s solo homer to left field in the sixth gave Fountain Valley a 4-1 lead. In the seventh, Hanoian’s two-run homer to right opened the floodgates. Before the Barons were finished, 13 batters had come to the plate and hopes of an Alemany rally were doused.

“This team is talented and they do all the little things they need to do,” Fountain Valley Coach Ron La Ruffa said. “But the bottom line is they’re just winners.”

Fountain Valley, which began the season ranked No. 1 by Baseball America, will play Capistrano Valley, a 1-0 winner over Long Beach Wilson, in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Fountain Valley, defending Division I champion, is 50-6 over the past two seasons. Alemany, the Mission League champion, finished 17-10.

“If they don’t wind up playing for the money, who’s it going to be?” Alemany Coach Tim Browne said. “I don’t think you can find a chink in their armor. They’re solid, one through nine, in the lineup.”

And on the mound. Senior right-hander Luke Hudson (6-1), who has signed with Tennessee, scattered seven hits through six innings, striking out four and walking one. Hudson (6 feet 2, 180 pounds) was pressured in only the first inning, when Kris Yeaman doubled and scored on a single by Bill Scott.

From there, Hudson did not allow a runner to reach scoring position until the fifth. In the seventh, reliever Chris Ponchak struck out the side in order.

“First inning, I was just throwing it over the plate, but then I started bearing down and hitting my spots,” Hudson said. “If you hit your spots, you’re going to be successful.”

Alemany’s Rudy Pantoja (6-1) was tagged for three runs in the first inning. Ponchak singled to drive in one run, Kevin Burford drove in another on a groundout and Roger Pechuls laid down a squeeze bunt to drive in Hanoian.

In the fourth, Pantoja yielded to Danny Arguello, who escaped trouble until Keller’s homer in the sixth.

In the seventh, Arguello, Salazar and Mike Pacheco gave up a combined five hits. Joe Rozek delivered a two-run double off Pacheco.

“We just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Browne said.

“If we’re hanging, 3-1, I get a real good feeling about what’s gonna come up. But like all good teams, [Fountain Valley] smelled it and went after it.”