Another job complete

COSTA MESA — Three high school games in five days is a lot of baseball.

Pitching is one area Nate Goellrich hasn’t had to worry much about in his first three games as the Estancia baseball coach.

The Eagles sent Brody Henscheid to the mound on Monday and, just like the past two starters, the right-hander went the distance for the win.

The most recent complete game was an impressive one at home.

Henscheid shut out a potent lineup in Murrieta Mesa and Estancia gave him just enough run support in a 1-0 win. The Eagles won their pool and advanced to the Costa Mesa Division semifinals of the Newport Elks Tournament.

“It’s been a fun ride,” said Goellrich, whose Eagles (3-0) will play host to Westminster (2-1) in the semifinals on Wednesday at 3 p.m. “Our guys have worked hard … for this and it’s paid off. We’ve played a tough schedule early and that’s the way we wanted to do it. Murrieta Mesa is a great, well-coached team.”

The Rams’ skipper, Matt Mosiello, witnessed two firsts. His ballclub, which was perfect through the first four games of the season, lost for the first time and it put up zeros through seven innings for the first time.

Henscheid kept a lineup that went into the afternoon averaging 14 runs per game, at bay. He gave up four hits, walked two and struck out three.

The Rams (4-1) almost jumped on the senior in the first inning.

Two walks by Henscheid and an error on a run-down put runners in scoring position for Murrieta Mesa. But Henscheid got out of trouble by getting the No. 5 hitter to fly out to right field for the third out.

No offense was able to get going through the 70-minute affair, which was just as long as the ride to the ballpark from Murrieta for the Rams.

Left-handed starter Chase Chambers threw as well as Henscheid. He mowed down five of the first six batters he faced, finishing with seven strikeouts through five innings.

The first hit Chambers allowed was in the third to Matt Jarmacz. He didn’t go far as he was picked off first base after a missed sacrifice bunt.

The Eagles’ second leadoff single turned out to cost Chambers.

Alex Trancoso got onboard in the fourth inning. This time, the Eagles put down the sacrifice bunt. Levi Stillman laid one down toward first base and Chambers fielded the ball and fired it to first base for the out, but Trancoso didn’t stop at second.

Trancoso took off for third base after seeing that no one was covering the bag. The third baseman, expecting Stillman to bunt, moved in, but never returned to his bag.

The aggressive play paid dividends for the Eagles. They got the run they needed when Tyler Rios brought Trancoso home from third on a sacrifice fly, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

The run was a huge one and it was only the second run Murrieta Mesa has given up this season. Once Estancia got the lead, Henscheid seemed to get stronger.

He struck out the first two batters he saw in the fifth inning, and closed out the sixth with a strikeout. The seventh was his fourth 1-2-3 inning.

“We’re trying to get ready for [Orange Coast League play],” said Goellrich, who has the aces in Andres Hernandez, Steven Macias and Henscheid to put the Eagles in contention to claim their second league title in three seasons. “We’ll take the 3-0 [record]. We could play a lot better than what we have [been playing], which is the best thing about it.”

Newport Elks Tournament

Costa Mesa Division

Estancia 1, Murrieta Mesa 0

SCORE BY INNINGS

Murrieta Mesa 000 000 0 – 0 4 0

Estancia 000 100 x – 1 3 1

Chambers, Mora (6) and Thomas; Henscheid and Pearce. W – Henscheid, 1-0. L – Chambers, 0-1. 2B – Beck (E).

david.carrillo@latimes.com

TWITTER: @DCPenaloza