Fountain Valley Topples Third-Seeded Camarillo

Things couldn’t have come together more perfectly for Fountain Valley.

And they couldn’t have fallen apart more drastically for Camarillo.

Fountain Valley defeated third-seeded Camarillo, 3-1, Tuesday in the second round of the Southern Section Division I baseball playoffs at Fountain Valley, thanks to Josh Bartusick’s complete game, heads-up defense and a first-inning injury to Camarillo right fielder Delmon Young.

Fountain Valley (18-8) advanced to play Capistrano Valley, which defeated Lakewood, in the quarterfinals Friday at a site to be determined. The Cougars defeated the Barons in the second round last season en route to the division title.

Young, the brother of Cincinnati Red outfielder Dmitri Young and one of the top pro prospects in the nation, rolled his right ankle after hitting an RBI double in his first at-bat and did not return. The injury to the sophomore seemed to sap the life out of the Scorpions (24-7), who saw two baserunners erased in the first three innings.

Justin Frash led off the second with a double but was picked off second base. Travis Sutton led off the third with a single and moved to second on another base hit but later was caught in a rundown.

“I can’t remember a guy getting picked off second all year for us,” Camarillo Coach Scott Cline said.

Said Fountain Valley Coach Ron LaRuffa: “Those two outs were huge. Our defense was outstanding, and that’s a key in the playoffs.”

Bartusick, who wasn’t exactly fooling the Camarillo hitters in the early going, settled down after the third inning to retire eight of the next nine batters.

Fountain Valley scored all the runs it would need in the third, when Joe Charboneau doubled and came home on Brandon Daguio’s single just past the reach of Frash, the Scorpion third baseman. Daguio scored on Jason Cayton’s double to left-center to make it 2-1.

Bartusick worked out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh by striking out Mark Cardella on a 3-2 count.

Afterward, Cline lamented his team’s lack of offensive production. The Scorpions had five players hitting over .400, including Young, who had a .471 average with eight home runs and 30 RBIs.

“It was a shocker, a tough situation to have happen,” Cline said of Young’s injury. “But we’re a young team and we should be able to bounce back. We just didn’t come to play today, and that’s a shame.”

Said LaRuffa: “They’re good enough to win it all. A lot of times in baseball, the best team doesn’t win.”

In other Division I games:

Capistrano Valley 6, Lakewood 4--Brennan Jackson pitched six shutout innings to get the win and had three hits for host Capistrano Valley (20-8).

Travis Becktel had a home run and three RBIs and Justin Demere hit a two-run home run for the Cougars.

Long Beach Millikan 8, Aliso Niguel 2--Chris Fielder’s two-run home run in the fifth tied it, 2-2, for the host Wolverines (19-8) before the Rams scored three runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh. Fielder set a school record for home runs in a season with 10.

Esperanza 5, Diamond Bar 4--Matt Lawson hit a three-run double and A.J. Shappi gave up one hit in five innings of relief to get the win for second-seeded Esperanza at Diamond Bar. The Aztecs (23-5) will play Fontana Miller in the quarterfinals.