No. 5 Villa Park Beats University in Loara Tournament

With season-opening victories against top-ranked Fountain Valley and ninth-ranked Cypress, unranked University looked like world-beaters on the rise.

But with a chance to extend their surprising early-season run Tuesday against No. 5 Villa Park in the quarterfinal round of the Loara tournament, the Trojans looked, well, rather ordinary.

University committed two costly errors, while Spartan pitcher Brandon Averill pitched six strong innings, drove in a run and scored another as Villa Park routed the Trojans, 6-1, at Glover Stadium in Anaheim.

The Spartans (3-0) advanced to play Long Beach Wilson in a Thursday semifinal.

The Trojans’ errors led to two runs as Villa Park raced out to a 5-0 lead after three innings.

“I told the kids we’re going to have to do the little things to compete because we’re not going to dominate anybody,” University Coach Chris Conlin said.

Averill drove in Scott Zine with the Spartans’ first run in the first inning on a double to right-center. In the second, Zine drove in Ricky Sims with a single to right and then came home when Trojan left fielder Dan Lobue saw Graham Ferguson’s line drive pop out of his glove. The error gave Villa Park a 3-0 lead and all the runs it would need.

University (2-1) scored its run on Matt Gamble’s single to left in the fifth inning. The Trojans had few answers for Averill’s mastery.

“I was throwing well today and hitting my spots,” said Averill (2-0), whose brother Erik pitched a perfect seventh. “We know we’re going to be a tough team this season and it’s going to be fun.”