Big 7th Lifts University Over Laguna Hills
Laguna Hills slammed head-on into disaster once again as University scored three runs in the sixth inning, then sent 16 batters to the plate in the seventh, scoring 11 runs in its 14-6 victory at Laguna Hills.
Laguna Hills (6-11, 2-5) had blown a 7-0 lead and lost to University, 14-8, on Wednesday.
Laguna Hills Coach Pete Tereschuk glumly watched Friday as three relievers combined to walk four (one intentionally), hit two others, give up seven hits, including two-run doubles by Adam O’Connor and Andy Dennis in the top of the seventh, which took nearly 30 minutes to complete. The Hawks also had two errors in the inning.
It wiped out the effort of Laguna Hills starter Dennis Lee, who threw 133 pitches before giving way in the seventh to reliever Ryan Johnson (0-1), who took the loss. Although erratic at times, walking six, hitting three and striking out four, Lee had given up only one hit through five innings, and still had a 6-3 lead after six.
But after Johnson came on with two on and no out in the seventh, he hit Jay Nichols, the first University batter he faced. Kevin Conlin followed with a single, and the game soon got out of hand.
“I know Lee had thrown a lot of balls and he was tired,” Tereschuk said. “And I know he did everything he could to finish the game.
“This has happened to us often this year. We’ve had several games where we had a big lead going [into the late innings] and ended up on the short end of the score.”
University reliever Erik Foxman (3-2), who pitched five scoreless innings against Laguna Hills on Wednesday and 1 1/3 scoreless innings on Friday to win both games this week, said he wasn’t surprised by the Trojans’ rally.
“This team has heart and doesn’t give up,” Foxman said. “When we loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, I knew we were going to go ahead. I had no idea it would be by that much.”
University (8-9-1, 6-0-1), is 2-9 in nonleague games but has run over the Pacific Coast League. A tie with Costa Mesa is the Trojans’ only blemish in league.
University Coach Chris Conlin isn’t sure his team knows how to be a front-runner.
“When we won league in 1995 and 1997, we closed on other teams at the end,” he said. “We know Costa Mesa, Aliso Niguel and Laguna Hills are going to be in it with us, so we can’t take any breaks. So far we’ve been fortunate.”
In another Pacific Coast League game:
Aliso Niguel 6, Laguna Beach 1--Senior Courtney Hemerick and freshman Darren Pitchford combined for 12 strikeouts and gave up only two hits for Aliso Niguel (10-7, 5-2).