El Toro Takes Advantage of Irvine’s Errors to Win Tournament Title

According to El Toro Coach Tom McCaffrey, El Toro had never won a baseball tournament. At least none that he could recall.

The Chargers defeated Sea View League rival Irvine, 3-1, in the championship game of the Dole Big West Invitational Wednesday. “This is the first ever I can remember,” McCaffrey said.

The Chargers’ Darrin MacLeod (5-1) beat Irvine’s James Ackerman in a duel of starting right-handers. Neither gave up much--El Toro (13-4-1) had six hits, Irvine (9-7-1) four.

But in an uncharacteristic display of shaky defense, the Vaqueros made four errors, which led to three unearned runs for the Chargers. That was too much to overcome.

As the first game between these teams showed--a 2-2 tie that was stopped after 11 innings because of darkness--nothing between them is decided easily or quickly.

Irvine eked out a run in the first. Ryan Bruker led off with an infield single, stole second, and scored on a ground single to center by Shaun Wooley.

The Vaqueros gave it back in the third. With Chargers on first and third, Ackerman faked a throw to third then bounced the ball past Wooley at first. Bonilla Clemente, who started the El Toro rally with a two-out single to right, scored.

Things stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth. Brett Vessells started with a single to left. Blair Lucas sacrificed, but Irvine catcher Eric Sonnenberg threw the ball down the right-field line. Lucas made it to third, where he scored on Steve Krupp’s sacrifice fly.

An error and Ackerman wild pitch set up El Toro’s final run in the sixth. It, too, came in on a sacrifice fly, this time by Vessells.