Los Alamitos Rallies to Win in the Seventh

Los Alamitos’ dramatic two-out, two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh Tuesday gave the Griffins a 5-4 victory over Long Beach Wilson in the Division I wild-card baseball game.

Eric Albright, given a reprieve after Wilson first baseman Kevin Miller dropped his pop foul, slapped a 1-2 pitch down the right-field line to score Curt McGaughey with the winning run.

Moments before, McGaughey tied the score off losing pitcher David Gonzalez (6-3) with a ground-rule double that scored a run. It was his second double and fourth hit of the game.

Los Alamitos (19-8) will face Katella on Friday in the first round. Wilson finished 12-13-1.

“This is as big a win as the kids have had this season,” Griffin Coach John Bryant said. “We’ve had other games where we’ve come from behind, but not in a game of this magnitude.

“This kind of drama only seems to happen at the playoffs.”

The rally took the onus off Griffin starter Jason Ball (10-1), who struck out seven and walked two in seven innings. He stood to lose because of one bad inning.

With a 1-0 lead, Ball retired the first eight batters he faced but gave up a triple to LeJuan Edwards. Ball walked the next two batters, then threw a fastball down the middle that Sean Burroughs turned into a grand slam.

Wilson got two more hits before Ball retired the side, and managed only one hit the rest of the way.

Wilson Coach Mark Clabough had taken a huge gamble, giving freshman Jeremy Hess his first varsity start. Hess protected the lead until the sixth when the first two Los Alamitos batters reached base. Clabough brought in Gonzalez, his top pitcher, but he could not keep both runners from scoring, narrowing the lead to 4-3.