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Lopes stars in win

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Timmy Lopes started things for Edison on Tuesday, then polished things off.

Lopes, a senior, opened the scoring and took to the mound in the late stages of Edison’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 wild-card baseball game against Chaparral, and his book-end performances capped a 2-0 victory for the host Chargers.

Edison wasn’t the only local school to win by shutout Tuesday.

Huntington Beach went to Temecula for a wild-card game and returned home with an impressive 7-0 shutout of host Great Oak.

Lopes hit a first-inning home run and later came on in relief of starting pitcher Tyler Jones to close out the final 1 2/3 innings. He struck out three of the six batters he faced.

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“This game was a total mirror image of our entire season,” Edison Coach Steve Lambright said after Edison improved to 12-13 and advanced to play a first-round game at No. 3-seeded J.W. North. “Timmy Lopes homers, Tyler Jones pitches well, and then Timmy [Lopes] comes in and finishes the job. That’s how it’s been all year.”

Jones (5-2) gave up four hits but kept Chaparral (13-14, Southwestern League at-large) at a distance for much of his six-plus inning stint. In the top of the sixth, the junior, who entered the game with a 2.04 ERA, gave up a lead-off single. An infield error by the Chargers allowed the Pumas to put runners at the corners with one out, and Lambright then took Jones from the hill. Enter Lopes, who then got the Pumas’ Jake Trybulski to strike out looking and Derek Quinn to ground out to third to end the threat.

“Tyler was pitching a shutout, but things could have taken a turn there in the sixth,” Lambright said. “I felt bad taking him out, but I felt that I had to bring in my horse [Lopes]. “

Lopes’ solo home run in the opening inning provided Edison with what turned out to be the winning run. The Chargers scored their second run in the bottom of the second on an infield throwing error by the Pumas.

“In my 18 years of coaching, Timmy [Lopes] is the best athlete that I have ever coached,” Lambright said. “He’s the whole package, physically, mentally, and has the makeup to be very successful at the next level.”

Edison now goes to Riverside County for a 3:15 p.m. first-round date with J.W. North on Friday. The Huskies (24-5), the division’s defending champion, won the Big VIII League title.

In another Division 1 wild-card game Tuesday, Huntington Beach took a 7-0 game from Great Oak (17-11, Southwestern League No. 3). UCLA-bound Brett Urabe (two RBIs) and Jake Caron (RBI) both tripled, Adam Daymude had a hit and three RBIs and Christian Abe threw 6 1/3 innings to get the win. The senior struck out five, allowed six hits and a walk in improving to 7-1.

Huntington, an at-large entry from the Sunset League, upped its record to 19-8. The Oilers move on to face No. 4-seeded Long Beach Poly at 3:15 p.m. Friday in Long Beach. The Jackrabbits (24-6) won the Moore League title.

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Marina and Ocean View, both earning runner-up finishes in the Sunset and Golden West leagues, respectively, start postseason play at 3:15 p.m. Friday.

Second-round playoff games in all divisions are at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The Vikings (16-10), the No. 2 representative from the Sunset League, travel to face Lakewood to open the Division 1 playoffs Friday. The Lancers (25-6) finished second in the Moore League.

Marina (10-5 league) finished one game behind Los Alamitos in the Sunset standings.

“I am extremely proud of these young men on this team,” Marina Coach Bob Marshall said. “We have gone through a lot as a team on the field, as well as off. We had so many distractions that could have buried this team. It was nice to see the maturity and the lessons we had to learn in order to get where we are today.

“Many chose us to battle for the bottom of the league and these players had something to prove. Our goal when we started in September was to get ourselves in a spot where we could win league. Well, we got close but came up a little short. Hats off to Los Alamitos for taking first. Now our focus is [the] CIF playoffs.”

Marina ended the regular season May 10 and lost, 11-4, at Huntington Beach. Senior Kevin Isa hit his first prep home run, a two-run shot, in the fifth inning.

The Seahawks (13-13) begin play Friday in the Division 3 playoffs with a road trip to Whittier. The Cardinals are 16-10 and finished second in the Del Rio League. Seahawks Coach Shane Borowski said that he’s “leaning” toward starting senior right-handed pitcher Jonah Desjardin (4-1, 0.74 ERA).

“We have seen Whittier a few times in the American Legion summer league,” Borowski said. “They tend to have good athletes and usually have a good arm or two. We are going to need to play solid fundamental baseball against them.

Ocean View ended regular-season play May 10 and lost out on a share of the Golden West League title — won by Westminster — after being edged, 1-0, at Segerstrom. Borowski said that Desjardin continued his “masterful pitching” by allowing just three hits and an unearned run.

Seahawks senior Timmy Robinson carries a season batting average of .518 average into the postseason. He has 34 RBIs and 43 hits, including nine doubles, a triple and 11 home runs.

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The 2012 season came to an end last week for Fountain Valley and Brethren Christian.

Fountain Valley ended its season with a two-game Sunset League sweep of Newport Harbor. The Barons defeated the Sailors, 6-1, on May 8, then came back May 10 to end their season with an 11-0 shutout win. In the 11-0 win, senior Tanner Brown and junior Monty Plattner combined on a one-hit shutout, sophomore Dan Patzlaff went four for four and junior Jordan Lucio went three for three.

The Barons ended the year 15-11 and went 5-10 in league for fifth place.

“Overall, we had a good season, but we fell short of our goals,” said Barons Coach Ron LaRuffa, whose team won the Beach Pit Classic last month. “We couldn’t overcome the loss of senior (pitcher/outfielder) Turner Clouse. Five one-run run losses in league kept us from going to the playoffs.

“With five all-leaguers coming back next year, the future looks bright.”

Brethren Christian finished up a tough campaign May 10 at Sage Hill, where the Warriors fell, 13-0, in Academy League play. BC ended the year 0-20.

michael.sciacca@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeSciacca

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