Santa Ana Ousted in 2 Games

Santa Ana Coach Don Sneddon said he was numb after the Dons lost to Los Angeles Harbor in regional baseball play Saturday at Riverside.

The feeling never went away for Santa Ana, which then was eliminated by Riverside, 7-5.

Los Angeles Harbor defeated Santa Ana in 10 innings, 16-9.

To advance to the state tournament, Riverside (37-11) must beat Harbor (31-15) twice in the final, which starts at noon today.

Santa Ana (32-15) had to do without shortstop Reggie Nelson when it played Riverside. Nelson and Harbor’s Jack Hawley were ejected for arguing in the 10th inning. Both sat out out a game as mandated by a state rule.

The Tigers started the day by eliminating Palomar, 21-1.

Santa Ana, which left 14 runners on base against Riverside, scored a run in the sixth to get as close as one, 5-4, but Riverside’s Greg Dobbs hit a two-run homer in the seventh.

Riverside’s Jeff Bajenaru gave up three hits and no runs over the final four innings for his third save.

Michael Natale (10-3) took the loss for Santa Ana, giving up six hits and seven runs, four earned, in seven innings. He walked six and struck out 10.

Boa Vinh had two hits and three runs batted in and Rick Gonzalez had two RBIs for Santa Ana. Gonzalez drove in seven runs in three regional games.

The Santa Ana-Harbor game featured several emotional turns, none greater than in the bottom of the ninth, when Santa Ana got a one-out single from Chad Elliott to drive in pinch-runner Art Garland, tying the score, 9-9.

With runners on first and second and one out, Santa Ana’s Ryan Blackmun hit a foul pop that first baseman Terry DeWan caught while his back was turned to the infield.

Pinch-runner Joe Urban tagged up at second and started to go but stopped. Elliott, who was on first, also tagged. Harbor pitcher Chad Qualls got the throw from DeWan and chased Elliott back to first.

Elliott made it but Urban broke for third again and was eventually tagged out in a rundown to end the inning.

Santa Ana’s Cory Williams, who started the weekend hitting .400 and already had a run-scoring double, was next in the order.

“We made a couple of bad base-running mistakes,” Sneddon said, “Cory Williams is a clutch guy. I liked our chances.”

Harbor scored seven times on five singles, two walks, and a hit batter in the 10th.

Elliott had three hits and drove in three runs for Santa Ana, which scored three times in the seventh to take an 8-7 lead. But Harbor took a 9-8 lead on a two-run single by Erik Mejia in the ninth.

“It was the best nine innings I’ve been part of for a long time,” Sneddon said. “It’s too bad it had to end that way. It was a total breakdown.”