Trabuco Hills Rallies to Beat San Clemente

Dane Everts’ run-scoring single with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday capped a two-run comeback for Trabuco Hills and propelled the sixth-ranked Mustangs to a 5-4 South Coast League victory over No. 10 San Clemente.

P.J. Sandoval started the rally by lining a one-out double to the right-center field wall, and San Clemente elected to walk Sean Boatright, who is tied for the county lead with 10 home runs, to put runners at first and second.

Brad Boster then hit a high chopper back to Triton pitcher Billy Pinney, who threw the ball wildly past first, enabling Sandoval to score the tying run and putting runners at first and second.

Pinney struck out James Webster following the error, but Everts lined a 1-2 pitch up the middle to score Boatright and end the game.

“Sandoval’s double lit a fire under us,” Trabuco Hills Coach Tim Ellis said. “Hopefully, we can use [the victory] as a springboard.”

Trabuco Hills starter Kyle Allen (8-1) earned the victory despite struggling most of the game, allowing the leadoff batter to reach in four of the first five innings and finishing with five walks. But the left-hander also recorded eight strikeouts and retired eight of the last nine Triton batters to keep the Mustangs in the game.

“We had our best out there today,” Ellis said, “and he wanted to finish.”

Todd Greco hit a leadoff home run in the fifth inning for San Clemente (16-7, 7-5), which fell into a third-place tie with Capistrano Valley.

Trabuco Hills leads second-place Mission Viejo by 1 1/2 games.