Tri-City’s Ramirez Holds Vigilantes When It Counts

Jamie Nelson, Tri-City manager and a former standout at Bolsa Grande High, talked at length about the value of using his intuition Sunday.

Nelson passed on bringing in his top reliever and stuck with Leo Ramirez, who got his first victory as the Posse beat the host Vigilantes, 4-3, in 10 innings in a Western League baseball game in front of an announced crowd of 1,991.

Ramirez already had given up two ninth-inning, game-losing home runs on the trip and a two-out, two-strike single that tied it, 3-3, in the ninth.

But Nelson, son of Bolsa Grande High Coach Vern Nelson, who retired last spring after 21 seasons, stayed with Ramirez. And Ramirez worked a perfect 10th against the heart of the Vigilantes’ batting order.

Nelson’s other choice was Bret Grebe, who has a team-high nine saves, but Nelson said the off-speed pitches of Ramirez (1-4) were more likely to keep hitters off balance.

“I had people telling me, ‘Grebe’s ready, Grebe’s ready,’ ” Nelson said. “But I wanted to stay with Ramirez.”

Tri-City (9-10) took a 4-3 lead in the 10th without the aid of a hit. Graham Koonce reached first base on a fielding error by second baseman Bret Barberie.

He went to second on a wild pitch by losing pitcher Kirk Kishita (3-2) and was sacrificed to third. Dan Ehler then relieved and his first pitch was low and got past catcher Carl Nichols for an wild pitch, enabling Koonce to score.

Ramirez got Corey Parker and Alan Burke to fly out and Sam Taylor popped up to end the game.

Taylor had a sacrifice fly and Nichols added a run-scoring double as Mission Viejo (9-10) opened a 2-0 lead in the first.

Tri-City tied it in the sixth when Steve Esquibel, who signed with the team earlier Sunday, hit a two-run homer. Tri-City took a 3-2 lead when Shawn Scott homered to right in the seventh.

Scott’s homer was the 16th of the season for Tri-City. It also was the first time this season the Posse had two homers in a game.

Mat Reese doubled with two outs in the ninth and Willie Mosher singled home pinch-runner Dusty Martin to tie it, 3-3, for Mission Viejo.