Esperanza Wins With Power

It has already been a great season for Esperanza, but the Aztecs were not going to let a talented but young Temecula Valley team muscle them out of the Division I baseball playoffs.

Esperanza hit three two-run homers Friday in a 13-7 victory at Esperanza.

The victory sends the Sunset League champions into the Tuesday semifinals against defending-champion La Puente Bishop Amat at Blair Field in Long Beach. They will play the second game, at 7 p.m. Long Beach Millikan, which defeated Mater Dei, and Encino Crespi play the first game at 4 p.m.

It’s the first time Esperanza (23-5) has reached the semifinals since the 1993 team that won the Division I title.

The homers by Brandon Pack (who had three hits and four runs batted in) in the first, David Parrish in the third and Rick Leach in the fifth--all off Ryan Gonzales (11-4), who gave up 10 runs and 10 hits in four-plus innings--tell part of the story.

Esperanza, leading 3-2 at the start of the third, sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five to break the game open.

“Being able to score in five of six innings--that was the difference today,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said.

“Esperanza is a very good offensive team,” Temecula Valley Coach Rich Emard said. “I thought we might be in trouble when I saw all the left-handers in their lineup. Ryan has good velocity, but his ball doesn’t have the movement to fool lefties. He’s been more effective against right-handers.”

The Bears (19-10) might have been outgunned by the Aztecs, but they were not awe-struck. The visitors did get 10 hits off Esperanza starter Nathan Choate and reliever Matt Colin, eight of them singles. And they scored in five innings themselves, but couldn’t get more than two in an inning.

Choate (12-0) had a funny game in that he struck out eight and walked two but got behind in the count so often he couldn’t get out of the fifth.

“It certainly wasn’t pretty today,” Choate said. “But I’ve been fortunate this season in that the team always seems to hit well in the games I pitch.”

Temecula Valley has only two senior starters and at times played five freshmen, meaning the Bears will strong again next year.

“We weren’t expecting to make the playoffs this year, and to get this far makes me excited about the future,” Emard said.

Curran is excited about Tuesday and what his team can still accomplish, even though he was not ready to compare it to past Aztec squads.

“I think this team, by winning the National Classic and the Sunset League, has shown it is a very good team,” he said. “Just how good, we can’t say until a couple more games.”