Boatright Plays the Hero, Puts Trabuco Hills in Title Game

So much for Sean Boatright’s slump.

Boatright hit a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning, added to a three-run home run and two doubles to lead Trabuco Hills to a 9-5 victory over Bingham of South Jordan, Utah, in a Big West Invitational semifinal Wednesday at Windrow Park in Irvine.

Earlier in the day, Boatright hit a two-run double in a 2-0 quarterfinal victory over Los Alamitos.

To recap, that’s two home runs, three doubles and nine runs batted in.

“I was actually in a huge slump before this,” said Boatright, who has six home runs and 31 RBIs for the season. “Finally, today I started to hit some line drives, and this afternoon I was all over the ball.”

The No. 6 Mustangs (15-4), who will play San Diego Vista in the championship game at 7 tonight at Windrow Park, needed all the offensive help they could get after committing seven errors.

Bingham (10-5), which had a seven-game winning streak stopped, led, 4-2, heading into the bottom of the sixth. Three of the Miners’ four runs to that point were set up by errors--a ball that rolled under shortstop Mike Thompson’s glove, another that eluded sun-blinded right fielder Ryan Brizendine and a third that Thompson booted.

The Mustangs rallied to take a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the inning after Mike Busane walked, Brian Byrne doubled and Boatright hit a three-run home run to left.

Bingham wasn’t finished. With two out and runners at second and third in the seventh, Mustang reliever Jason Mooneyham got Justin Dumont to ground to second base. Byrne knocked the ball down but it rolled away, allowing Dumont to reach first and Beau Stoker to score from third to make it 5-5.

That set the stage for more drama in the bottom of the seventh. Brizendine walked, and Miner starter Randon Young hit the next two batters, Brad Boster and Joe Burgett, to load the bases.

All it would have taken for the victory was a medium-depth fly ball, but Busane’s fly to center was too shallow for Brizendine to tag up from third. Byrne worked the count to 3-and-2 on reliever Matt Rasmussen but struck out swinging on the next pitch.

That’s when Boatright stepped up and hit his second heroic shot of the day, a grand slam to left-center that completed Trabuco Hills’ comeback.

In other tournament games:

No. 7 Irvine wins twice--Chris Lewis hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the Vaqueros to an 11-9 victory over Catalina Foothills (Ariz.) in a consolation-bracket game at Irvine. Lewis had three hits and drove in five runs.

In the other game, Chad Hazlett pitched a two-hitter, walking none, and Terry Parker had three hits, scored three runs an drove in three others in a 10-0 victory over San Bernardino Cajon.