Baseball: JJ Carr, Santa Margarita keep having fun

It’s going to be a crazy Friday for the senior baseball players at Santa Margarita. Graduation is in the morning. A Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal playoff game against Norco is in the afternoon. Then comes grad night at an undisclosed location.

Shortstop JJ Carr couldn’t be happier. He said the Eagles’ motto is “keep having fun.” And he had great fun on Tuesday, helping Santa Margarita rally for an 8-7 victory over Fountain Valley.

Fountain Valley opened a 5-0 lead. Things were looking pretty bleak for Santa Margarita. Fountain Valley had its 14-0 ace, Scott Schultz, on the mound. But the Eagles started to hit Schultz and finally caught up when Carr delivered a bases clearing double in the sixth to tie the game, 7-7. A wild pitch moved him to third and he scored on an errant throw on a pickoff attempt.

Griffin Canning, the UCLA-bound senior, came in to pitch the seventh and got the save. Now he’ll be able to throw on Friday against Norco in a quarterfinal game.

Carr three times belted the ball against Schultz, but each time the ball was caught by an outfielder. The fourth time was a shot that sent Santa Margarita fans into a frenzy.

“I just wanted to keep hitting the ball hard,” he said. “I knew eventually it would fall.”

Carr is part of a strong group of shortstops from the Trinity League. He signed to play baseball for Cincinnati after playing three years of ice hockey for Santa Margarita.

He and his teammates can’t wait to play on Friday with Canning pitching.

“When you have Griffin on the mound, you’re always confident,” he said.

Santa Margarita received four hits from Kevin Thomsen and three hits apeice from Nick Meyer.