San Dimas Knocks Off La Quinta, 6-5

San Dimas left fielder Ryan Gutzke didn’t get the opportunity to join teammates as they celebrated in the infield after upsetting second-seeded La Quinta, 6-5, in a Southern Section Division IV baseball playoff game.

He started in that direction after the final out but was intercepted by about 10 San Dimas students who carried him around in honor of his two-out, three-run homer in the top of the seventh.

It was the second consecutive game-winning home run for San Dimas, which beat Brawley, 4-3, Tuesday on a two-out, two-run homer by Jeff Coleman in the seventh inning.

La Quinta (25-5) held a 5-2 lead going into the seventh, but Jason Marcus started the winning rally with a one-out infield single. Joe Mastrosimone followed with a line-drive single to left.

Mastrosimone then made an important play when he slide hard into second baseman Shaun Larkin, preventing him from turning a double play on a ground to short by Alex McHenry. Larkin fell after getting the force play, allowing Marcus to race home.

Chris Horn walked and La Quinta Coach Dave Demarest removed a tired Jason Garcia in favor of Gerald Laird, who normally is the Aztec catcher.

“I told him to look for a fastball down the middle and he just turned on it,” said Sam Dimas Coach Tim Alley, whose team has won 14 straight.

Gutzke got what he was looking for and drove the first pitch over the left-center field fence. It was his fourth home run of the season.

“He just ran into a fastball,” Demarest said. “We just got beat. It’s hard because of the fact that we had a three-run lead but what can you do.”

Laird had a run-scoring ground out in the first inning and then singled in another run in the fifth.