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Oilers remain perfect in Sunset

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Through Round One of the Sunset League baseball season, the Huntington Beach Oilers sit atop the league standings.

Not only that, but they entered the week atop the CIF Southern Section Division 1 rankings.

Huntington completed the first round of league play with a 5-0 record, scoring wins last week against Los Alamitos (10-1), and Edison (3-2).

The Oilers overpowered Los Alamitos Friday to earn their sixth-straight victory. Junior Tyler Murray delivered three doubles and drove in three runs, junior Daniel Amaral had a double, home run and three runs batted in, and junior Noah Davis took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

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Davis gave up only one hit, a run, walked two and struck out two. He improved to 5-0 and holds a 1.12 ERA.

Huntington upped its overall record to 9-2.

“We put together a complete game for the first time this year,” Huntington Coach Benji Medure said. “Los Al had their big pitcher [Jacob Nix] going, so it was nice to see our guys hit him around like that. That should help us this week against Newport and their D-1 pitchers.”

In a battle between two teams that then were 3-0 in league April 2, Huntington rallied back from a 2-0 deficit against Edison by scoring the final three runs to pull out a 3-2 win against the visiting Chargers. Senior Sean O’Toole (1-0) got the pitching win.

Huntington this week has taken over the top spot in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 top 10 poll, which was released by the Southern Section office Monday. The Oilers replace defending division champion Harvard-Westlake, which slipped to No. 3 this week.

Fountain Valley got its offense untracked its last three games, scoring 21 total runs in two wins last week over Marina (14-1) and Edison (7-1). The Barons, on a three-game league win streak, improved to 4-1 in league and 8-4 overall.

Fountain Valley previously routed Newport Harbor, 10-0, March 28.

In Friday’s 7-1 win over seventh-ranked Edison, senior Junior Aguilar went three for four with two RBIs, and junior Willie Aguilar went two for four with an RBI. Senior Scott Schultz ran his record to 3-0, giving up one earned run in five innings pitched.

Willie Aguilar went three for four with two home runs, a double and drove in five runs, during a 14-1 win April 2 over Marina. Junior Justin Cobb also homered and singled, junior JT Navarro had two hits and two RBIs, senior Dan Rosica doubled and singled with an RBI, senior Dillon Persinger had two hits, Junior Aguilar doubled, and seniors Brock Lundquist (double) and Daniel Patzlaff each had an RBI.

Senior Austin Sojka doubled and singled for Marina.

“I’m really proud of our players for rebounding after a tough loss versus Huntington Beach,” Fountain Valley Coach Deric Yangisawa said, in reference to a 2-1 loss to Huntington March 26. “Our pitching has kept us in a lot of ballgames this year.

“Offensively, we’ve been up and down. However, we’re starting to take quality at-bats and guys are getting hot at the right time. We’re getting contributions from everyone up and down our lineup. This is how we imagined us playing. These guys are starting to play together. We’re becoming a ‘team’ at the right time.”

Marina also fell Friday to visiting Newport Harbor which scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning to wipe out a 2-1 deficit to take a 3-2 win. Sojka went two for three with a double for the Vikings, who are 1-4 in league, and 4-6 overall.

“My team is working hard to improve,” Marina Coach Bob Marshall said. “The competitiveness is slowly starting to show. We have scored first in most of our games but we just can’t seem to find the intrinsic strength to hold the lead and compete for all seven innings.”

Scores from Tuesday’s Sunset League second-round games, Huntington 3, Newport Harbor 0; Fountain Valley 7, Los Alamitos 0; Edison 4, Marina 3.

The Sunset League schedule for Thursday has Huntington hosting Newport Harbor, Marina hosting Edison, and Fountain Valley playing at Los Alamitos. All games start at 3:15 p.m.

Huntington, Fountain Valley and Marina will be involved in upcoming spring break holiday tournament action. Marina is in the Ryan Lemmon Invitational, which begins Saturday. The Vikings meet Northwood at 4 p.m. at Ryan Lemmon Stadium. Huntington and Fountain will compete at the 25th Hard 9 National Classic, which starts Monday. The Oilers take on Elsinore at 10 a.m. at Esperanza High, and Fountain Valley faces Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) at 1 p.m. at Esperanza.

•In a Golden West League game Friday, Ocean View fell behind early at Segerstrom but came back to score a 5-2 victory over the Jaguars. Junior Bobby Evans and senior Dustin Fisher hit home runs, junior Gabe Ledezma and sophomores Ben Myers and Brian Scholsser all doubled, and sophomore Braydon Salzman (2-1) threw a four-hitter in a complete-game performance, as the Seahawks won their second consecutive league game of the week.

“I’m really happy with how our kids responded to the Segerstrom challenge,” Ocean View Coach Shane Borowski said. “It really looked like everything we did to prepare for them paid off. Our bats really came to life, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Bobby and Dustin’s home runs really took the wind out of their sails, and once Braydon found his release point on all his pitches, he was un-hittable.

“Our guys played a complete game and I’m really proud of the whole team.”

Ocean View (2-1 league) previously took Santa Ana pitching for 14 hits and scored an 18-1 win over the visiting Saints April 2. Ledezma, Scholsser and Salzman all doubled and junior Michael Giacone tripled for the Seahawks who scored eight runs in the first inning.

Ocean View closes out the first round of league play at 3:15 p.m. Friday at home against Orange. Next week, the Seahawks go to Loara for a 3:15 p.m. Tuesday game, then play host to the Saxons at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday.

CIF Weekly Rankings

Baseball: Huntington Beach (No. 1, Division 1); Edison (No. 7, Division 1).

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