Cypress Is a Victory From Trip to State

Cypress beat Long Beach, 13-5, in a Southern California baseball playoff game Saturday that left the Chargers one victory away from the state tournament.

It was also the 10th consecutive victory for Cypress, but Coach Scott Pickler quickly put the day’s success in perspective.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” he said. “We still need to win [today].”

A victory today over Cerritos--the teams meet at 11 at Cypress--would put the Chargers in the state tournament. Cerritos, which eliminated Orange Coast and Long Beach Saturday, needs two victories to advance.

Cypress used a four-run seventh to take an 8-0 lead, then got home runs from Cory Sullivan and Brandon Pack during a five-run ninth.

The Chargers got a solid seven-plus innings from left-hander Garrett Estabrook (5-2) who tired in the eighth. He was replaced by right-hander Brandon Luna, who entered with Cypress leading, 8-4. Long Beach had a runner on second and no one out but Luna, pitching for the first time since April 29, struck out three in a row.

Luna said he wasn’t worried about being rusty because the situation gave him extra motivation after he lost to Long Beach earlier this season.

“I wanted a little revenge today,” Luna said. “[The loss] was on my mind.”

Cypress led, 4-0, going into the seventh and had runners on second and third with one out. Steve Hindman then hit a hard grounder to Long Beach third baseman Nick Zastrow, who had a good chance to get Sullivan at the plate but his throw was wild and Shaun Larkin, running hard from second, also scored on the play for a 6-0 lead.

Pinch-hitter Adam Spiker added a two-run single in the inning for the Chargers (34-12-1).