Trevor Scott twirls Estancia’s second gem to begin CIF baseball playoffs
The adage “good pitching beats good hitting” has never rung truer.
Through its first two playoff games, the Estancia High School baseball team has surrendered just two runs, bookending those two performances with six no-hit innings on either side.
Trevor Scott struck out six batters in a complete game, as the Eagles defeated Fontana A.B. Miller 6-1 on Tuesday in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs.
Second-seeded Estancia (25-5) will play at Cross Valley League co-champion Hesperia Christian (18-4) in the quarterfinals on Friday, as the Eagles hit the road for the first time this postseason. Estancia last made a quarterfinals appearance in 2019.
The playoffs began with Andrew Mits carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Estancia’s 7-1 win over Tarbut V’Torah at home.
“It’s why they say it’s the most difficult championship to win in high school,” Estancia coach Nate Goellrich said. “It’s single-elimination, and you’re only as good as your pitcher that day. We’ve been fortunate to have two quality starts, but we can’t take anything for granted.
“Now we’re down to the top eight teams, so anybody can beat anybody, so we got to be ready to come out Friday.”
Apart from back-to-back doubles by Robert Alvarez and Daniel Martinez in the first inning, Scott shut down A.B. Miller (18-6), which had a 12-game winning streak snapped.
“He did a great job,” Goellrich said of Scott. “He came out with a little bit of nerves in that first inning, and the ball was elevated a little bit. They took advantage of it, but great job settling down. Once he settled in, we knew he could go seven [innings] for us. … We love playing on our own field. We only have one loss [at home] all year because we know how to play this field with the wind, and it came to our benefit again today.”
Scott’s run of six hitless innings to end the game gave the Eagles an opportunity to rally, an effort the Estancia starting pitcher initiated with a lead-off single through the hole on the second-base side of the infield in the fourth.
James De La O followed with a single, and after a bunt by Cole Lefebvre moved the runners over, the Eagles tied the score on a sacrifice-fly to right by Andrew Coyotzi.
The Eagles showed an ability to hit from one foul line to the other, as catcher Blake Peck broke the tie with a line-drive double that dropped inside the left-field line.
“That first [at-bat, A.B. Miller starting pitcher Andrew Ridge] kind of buckled me a little bit,” Peck said. “I came in the fourth inning, and I just kind of stopped thinking, tried to hit the ball where it was given. He happened to give me an inside pitch, and I got … around it.”
After a fielding error extended the inning, Mits ran out a ground ball past the mound to the shortstop position for another run. The final tally in a four-run fourth was forced in when Miles Moyer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Moyer had two hits and two runs batted in to lead the Eagles offensively.
“I feel like the team responds well under pressure, and me and Andrew can’t pitch the way we pitch without our defense helping us, so it gives us a lot of confidence,” Scott said. “I think we give them a lot of confidence, too.”
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