Dana Hills beats Hueneme in wild-card game, 7-1

The professional scouts were out in force Tuesday afternoon for the Southern Section Division 1 wild-card playoff game that featured two top pitching prospects, Hueneme’s Jesus Valdez and Dana Point Dana Hills’ Peter Tago.

Valdez was clocked throwing 91 mph in a perfect first inning. Tago touched 94 mph and gave up a run-scoring double to Valdez in the first inning.

But Hueneme’s hopes suffered a severe blow on that double because Valdez rolled his ankle going into second base. He took the mound for a couple of warmup tosses in the next inning and grimaced in pain. A trainer came out and tried to wrap up the ankle. It didn’t work. Valdez left the game and Tago took command to lead Dana Hills to a 7-1 victory, striking out 10, walking none and throwing a six-hitter.

“It changed everything,” Dana Hills Coach Tom Faris said. “I felt Valdez and Tago were going to go about eight innings each, then we were going to have our No. 2s out there for another five innings. It’s unfortunate he has to go through something like that in his senior year. It was a huge loss for them.”

But shortstop Brandon Hernandez made Dana Hills (16-12) work for its runs. He came in to pitch for Hueneme (15-10), struck out the side in the second inning, gave up a run in the fourth on a squeeze bunt and kept the score 1-1 until Dana Hills broke through for six runs in the sixth.

Leading the way for the Dolphins was junior outfielder Trevor Scott, who had a two-run double in the inning. He finished with three hits. Other big hits in the inning were a run-scoring single by Nick Redding and a run-scoring triple by Scott Kaplan.

Who knows whether Valdez, a right-hander who signed with Arizona, might have been able to make a 1-0 lead hold up.

Tago, who has committed to Cal State Fullerton, certainly didn’t let the Vikings off the hook, using the velocity on his fastball, combined with an effective curveball and changeup to dominate over the final three innings. The only batter to reach base was hit by a pitch.

Dana Hills’ reward, however, is a first-round matchup with No. 4-seeded Huntington Beach Edison on Thursday at Edison. Waiting for the Dolphins is 6-foot-7 junior left-hander Henry Owens, who is 10-1 with a 1.27 earned-run average.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com