Footloose Chargers Topple No. 5 Barons
Maybe that’s how you start stringing wins together this late in the baseball season.
You skip infield practice and instead play hacky sack--with a baseball.
You wear one green sock and one black one, even though it looks kind of silly.
You stay loose. You have fun. You play your heart out.
Edison may not make the playoffs, but no one can deny that the Chargers are making a late-season run to remember.
Brent Roumeliotis’ sacrifice fly drove in Jason DeMarti with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh Friday as host Edison rallied from a four-run deficit to defeat No. 5 Fountain Valley, 5-4, in a Sunset League game.
“These guys showed a lot of character, a lot of poise,” said Edison Coach Thomas Duggan, whose team swept its two-game series with the Barons this week and notched its third consecutive victory. “Now is the time to do that.”
Heading into the final week of league play, the Chargers (13-10-1, 6-7) are battling Fountain Valley (16-8, 7-6) for the third and final automatic playoff berth.
Though the Barons are a game ahead in the standings, the schedule favors Edison, which plays last-place Huntington Beach twice and Fountain Valley has two games against No. 6 Esperanza, which is tied for the league lead with Los Alamitos.
“Everyone we seem to play lately is playing great baseball,” said Fountain Valley Coach Ron LaRuffa, whose team started the season ranked No. 1 but has dropped four straight. “You make one mistake and that’s it.”
The mistake Friday was a bunt mishandled by Baron reliever Brent Erickson in the bottom of the seventh with Fountain Valley leading 4-3.
After Andrew Szafirski hit a leadoff single, DeMarti’s bunt bounced straight at Erickson, who bobbled the ball, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. Erickson got Steven Henderson to fly out, but the next batter, Cory Vanderhook, singled to right to drive in Szafirski and tie it, 4-4.
Then Roumeliotis stepped up and drove in DeMarti with his fly ball to right.
“Finally, we’re just clicking and everyone is playing together,” said Edison reliever Glenn Hedgpeth, who pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings to improve to 3-4. “We’re having fun.”
In other Sunset League games:
No. 6 Esperanza 7, Marina 6--Luke Sargent’s RBI single in the seventh scored Kent Carpenter to cap a rally from a 6-4 deficit for the host Aztecs (19-6, 9-4).
Los Alamitos 6, Huntington Beach 4--Nick Fitzgerald’s fifth-inning two-run home run put the Griffins (14-10, 9-4) ahead, 5-4.
