Davis Pitches Five-Hitter as Brea Beats Western

Brea Olinda ace Scott Davis took the ball one more time against Orange League rival Western. And for the fourth time, Western couldn’t find a way to beat him.

Davis gave up five singles, struck out four and did not walk a batter to lead the unseeded Wildcats to a 3-0 victory in a Southern Section Division III baseball quarterfinal Friday at Brea.

Brea (20-8-1) advanced to the semifinals to play West Covina South Hills, a 9-6 winner over Burbank Burroughs. Western, which lost twice to Brea in the regular season and managed a 1-1 tie, finished 19-9-1.

Davis (10-1) didn’t allow a runner past second base, and that made it easier for Brea, which had only one extra-base hit and scored on an infield single by Greg Stoddard and a two-run single by Travis Blood.

Western left-hander Brian Clark (4-4) kept Brea off balance for four innings before the Wildcats broke through in the fifth.

Clark gave up two singles to start the inning, then Western turned to its ace, Brandon Herbert. Tuesday, Herbert didn’t allow an earned run in a complete-game 2-1 victory over second-seeded Santa Margarita.

With runners on first and third and no outs, Herbert got Andy Drapowski to ground to second and Western’s Mike Colletto threw out Ron Benigno at the plate.

Then Herbert got No. 3 hitter Davis to ground out on a high chopper back to the mound while the runners advanced to second and third.

After an intentional walk to cleanup hitter Brandon Grajewski loaded the bases, Greg Stoddard hit another high chopper back to Herbert. But by the time the ball came down and Herbert threw to first, Stoddard beat it out for an infield single.

Blood followed with a single to center to score two runs, then Brea’s Mike Ausman singled to left. But Western’s Will Ruffin made a great throw to catcher Alex Taylor, who blocked the plate and tagged out Stoddard to end the inning. But that final out came too late for Western.