Santa Ana’s Wilson Sets Down Mt. San Jacinto

With pitcher C.J. Wilson and catcher Justin Gerlach leading the way, top-seeded Santa Ana completed a two-game sweep of Mt. San Jacinto to advance in the Southern California Regionals on Saturday.

Wilson pitched a complete game, his third of the season, and Gerlach drove in three runs as the Dons rolled to a 10-1 victory over the Eagles to win the best-of-three series at Santa Ana College.

Wilson (8-1) barely missed his first shutout of the season, giving up a solo home run to Bobby Castro with one out in the ninth.

Wilson, a sophomore left-hander and Orange Empire Conference MVP, gave up eight hits, struck out seven and walked one. Though he gave up a hit in eight of the nine innings, Wilson allowed just one runner past second base before Castro homered to left in the ninth.

But Wilson wasn’t completely satisfied.

“I wanted the shutout because we haven’t had one all year,” said Wilson, who also had a double and single. “But we did what we came here to do and that’s what’s most important.”

His teammates made the missed shutout a moot point. The Dons (34-7-1), the conference champions, had 13 hits and tagged loser Matt Martinez (4-2) often.

Gerlach, the series MVP, had three hits and three runs batted in. He homered in Friday’s 10-6 victory over Mt. San Jacinto.

First baseman Tony Alcantar hit a solo homer in the fifth for Santa Ana. Third baseman Aaron Escobedo went three for three with two doubles and a walk. He scored four runs and drove in one with a sacrifice fly.

Gerlach’s RBI singles in the second and fourth gave Santa Ana a 2-0 lead. It was all the Dons needed.

They scored two more in the sixth, one coming on Alcantar’s towering home run to center. Then, Santa Ana turned the game into a rout by scoring three runs in each of the eighth and ninth innings.

“They’re an offensive team and we had to have some good hitting and pitching to prevail,” Santa Ana Coach Don Sneddon said. “We saved [Wilson] for this game in hopes of shutting them down. It’s a shame he didn’t get a shutout.”