Mason outduels Twomey, Hawks lose third straight

Esperanza starting pitcher Scott Mason came into today’s game at 2-2 with a 5.36 earned run average.

However, first-pitch strikes guided him to a complete game shutout of El Dorado on the road and Esperanza claimed at least a share of the Century League championship with its 4-0 victory on Wednesday afternoon.

The Golden Hawks remain the lone team that still has a chance to tie Esperanza, however, they would have to win their last three games and hope the Aztecs drop all three of theirs.

Mason was the key for Esperanza, tossing the complete game shutout while allowing six hits and striking out a season high 11 batters.

The left-handed senior got enough run support thanks to aggressive baserunning in the third inning.

In that inning, Nick Catalano lined a shot to deep left-center field. As Nate Alam struggled to pick up the ball, Catalano decided to round second base and head to third, putting pressure on Chris Rivera, the relay man, to make a perfect throw.

Rivera’s throw sailed over the head of Scott Serigstad and Catalano trotted home for the first run of the game.

Kevin Viers, who followed Catalano, reached on another throwing error by Rivera and came around to score on a single down the left-field line by Ryan Aguilar.

Small ball and two passed balls allowed a third run to score as Mitch Mosman, who led off with a walk, came around to score on a squeeze bunt by Mark Tumlinson.

In the fifth inning, the exclamation point was made to the tune of a line drive solo home run by Brad Anderson on a 3-2 count. The senior first-baseman connected when Twomey tried to challenge him with a high fastball, but Twomey left it just below the letters and Anderson turned on it.

Twomey’s outing wasn’t bad, the senior tossed five innings, allowed four runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out three batters. However, in three of those five innings, Twomey walked the leadoff batter and pitched out of the stretch more often than usual.

Once again, the offense struggled for El Dorado. In three separate innings, the Golden Hawks stranded two baserunners.

In the fourth inning, Alam and Scott Serigstad reached on base hits with one out, but Seve Romo grounded out straight to Tumlinson at third base, who in turn stepped on the bag to retire Alam. Rivera then grounded out to second base to end the threat.

In the sixth inning, PJ Conlon and Serigstad hit back-to-back singles with two outs before Romo grounded out straight to Anderson at first base.

Finally, in the seventh inning, Rivera led off with a single and two batters later, Mike Covelli executed a hit-and-run that got Rivera to third base.

However, Kyle Eckart struck out looking and Joe Record grounded out to end the game.

El Dorado, who remains a game-and-a-half above El Modena for second place, will face off against the Vanguards at El Modena High on Friday.

Esperanza will turn its attention to Brea Olinda at Esperanza on Friday.

Looking comfortable leads to uncomfortable win

La Habra coach Paul Caffrey had reasons to be upset after his team’s 5-0 victory over Buena Park at home on Friday.

It was the first time the Highlanders played while in sole possession of the lead in the Freeway League standings, but La Habra didn’t look the part for five innings of Friday’s contest.

Despite a first inning run on a fly ball by Aaron Porter that popped out of the glove of a leaping Seong Joon Park, which scored AJ Oviedo from third base, pitchers Josh Staumont and Cody Gutierrez engaged in a pitcher’s duel in which each consistently worked out of trouble with one runner on base.

The two matched innings until the sixth inning, in which La Habra put a stamp on the game with four runs. Sean Sparling broke through with the big hit, a two-RBI triple that plated both Staumont and Omar Villicana. Sparling scored on a hit by Marcus Lopez and Oviedo drove home Lopez for the final run.

The reason for Caffrey’s frustration was clear, heading into the two most important series of the season in the next two weeks, his team seemed to take a day off, which led to some mental errors, especially on the basepaths.

Twice were the Highlanders able to get the leadoff batter on base only to watch the runner get picked off at first base by Gutierrez shortly thereafter.

Moreover, La Habra on multiple occasions couldn’t come up with the big hit, leaving runners in scoring position.

On the mound however, Staumont continued to deal and picked up his seventh win in eight starts. Staumont only allowed two baserunners once in the game and when the Coyotes decided to play small ball to get Cameron Griffith to third base in the fifth inning with one out, Staumont closed the inning with a strike out and a pop out.

The senior continued to work the fastball, blowing it by Buena Park batters throughout the game. The Highlanders outscored Buena Park 26-2 in the three-game series sweep.

The Highlanders now will gear up for the toughest two weeks of the season, first a home-and-away series with second-place Sonora and finally the same with Troy. Currently, Sonora is one game back of the Highlanders heading into their series next week. La Habra has the 1-0 series lead.

 

Highlanders roll, receive gift from Sunny Hills

With it’s 9-1 Freeway League victory at Buena Park, the La Habra baseball team claimed sole possession of first place in the Freeway League for the first time all season thanks to Sunny Hills, who defeated Sonora 4-3.

In fact, all three road teams in the Freeway League took victories with them today as Troy won 11-1 at Fullerton.

For La Habra, the task at hand was Buena Park, which came into the contest riding some confidence after a 6-1 win over Sunny Hills, the first in league play for the Coyotes, last Friday afternoon.

La Habra got off to a slow start, but made no doubt in the later innings as Buena Park starting pitcher Troy Nelson constantly had to deal with runners on base.

The Highlanders (12-9, 8-2) struck first when Aaron Porter doubled home Zack Ferreira in the top of the first inning.

However, Buena Park (6-16, 1-9) responded in the bottom half after loading the bases with nobody out against La Habra starting pitcher Spencer Long.

After striking out Nelson, Cameron Griffith grounded into a fielder’s choice play at third base, allowing Gabriel Santos to score.

Buena Park threatened to take the lead in the second inning with two runners aboard. Damien Crow hit a chopper to Chad Ferreira at third base, but his throw sailed away from AJ Oviedo and the runners were off to the races.

However, Oviedo recovered the ball deep in foul territory and fired home to Jacob Looney, who made the catch and applied the tag on a sliding Santos for the final out of the inning.

It was all La Habra from that point on. AJ Oviedo scored on a sacrifice fly by Porter in the third inning and then Porter doubled home both Oviedo and Ferreira in the fifth inning. Later in the fifth, Porter and Omar Villicana would score on a groundout by Sean Sparling and a double by Chad Ferreira to make it 6-1.

The Highlanders weren’t done. Zack Ferreira hit a solo home run in the sixth inning and Chad Ferreira and Marcus Lopez picked up an RBI each in the seventh inning.

Long went six strong innings, allowing one run on five hits while striking out seven batters. Porter closed the door in the seventh inning despite allowing two base runners.

The Highlanders totaled 14 hits on the day en route to their fifth consecutive Freeway League victory.

The two teams will meet for the final time on Friday, with La Habra looking for a sweep and Buena Park looking for its second Freeway League victory.

Highlanders score early, cruise to home victory

The La Habra baseball team got more than just a 7-1 victory over Fullerton on Wednesday afternoon at home, they earned a share of the Freeway League lead halfway through league play.

Yes, the Highlanders got a little help from Troy, which handed La Habra it’s last league loss a three weeks ago, with the Warriors’ 4-0 shutout of Sonora this afternoon. Sonora and La Habra are now tied for the league lead with La Habra holding a tiebreaker thus far as both teams have 6-2 records.

However, La Habra got it done on the field too, scoring three runs in the first inning and four more in the fourth inning.

Spencer Long picked up his third victory of the season throwing a complete game and allowing one earned run on five hits while striking out seven and walking two.

Twice Long retired Fullerton with runners at second and third base. The Indians got to him int he fifth inning for one run when Chad Rebensdorf scored on a single by Erik Reyes.

However, Long retired the final seven batters straight to close it out.

Offensively for La Habra, Aaron Porter hit a three run homer in the fourth inning to dead center field and drove in four runs overall.

The Highlanders put pressure on Fullerton’s defense in the first inning. AJ Oviedo led off and was hit by a pitch before Zack Ferreira singled.

Porter hit a high chopper up the middle that forced Fullerton shortstop Keaton Slack to range past second base, but the throw was late and off-target, skipping past the first baseman, which allowed Oviedo to score.

Josh Staumont then hit a weak groundball that got under the glove of pitcher Randall Ortiz, which allowed Ferreira to score. Then, on a double steal attempt, a throw to third popped out of the glove of Rebensdorf and Porter raced home to score the third run.

AJ Oviedo added an RBI single before Porter’s three-run bomb gave La Habra a 7-0 lead.

Randall Ortiz was charged with the loss, pitching three-and-two-thirds innings while allowing seven runs on seven hits and striking out three batters. Jacob Channel relieved Ortiz and shut down the Highlanders for the remainder of the contest.

The two teams will meet again on Friday at Fullerton High. For La Habra, today’s win was their third consecutive after a home-and-away sweep of Sunny Hills.

For the Indians, the loss is their sixth straight and they are now winless in their last seven with a tie against Brea Olinda in the mix as well.

 

La Habra survives late game drama with city rival Sonora

It took one extra inning to decide a winner between city rivals La Habra and Sonora, coincidentally, also the two teams favored to win the Freeway League, but after all was said and done, it was the Highlanders prevailing with a 8-6, eight inning victory over Sonora to move up into a first place tie in the Freeway League standings.

The Highlanders took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning when Sonora put on a hitting display. After the first three batters reached base with a walk and two hits, La Habra starting pitcher Josh Staumont was pulled in favor of Aaron Porter.

The relief pitcher didn’t fare well initially, giving up back-to-back singles to the first two batters he faced as Sonora closed the deficit down to one run with no one out and the bases still loaded.

But Porter rebounded, striking out two dangerous hitters in Luke Wilkinson and Gavin Blodgett in the hopes of closing out the game.

However, Porter’s first pitch against James Goodwin skipped away from catcher Jacob Looney and bounced off a post toward first base, allowing Bobby Pettey to score from third.

Brandon Munoz, who started on second, tried to play hero for Sonora as he rounded third and went for home, but Porter recovered the ball and flipped it to Looney, who was blocking the plate. Looney applied the tag in the nick of time and sent the game to extra innings.

In the top of the eighth inning, Porter hit a one-out single to right field. The following batter, AJ Oviedo, smashed a double to deep right-center field, scoring Porter from first as La Habra reclaimed the lead. After a passed ball got pinch-runner Daniel Sanchez to third base, Omar Villicana hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to give the Highlanders a cushion.

Porter then retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth inning to seal the victory for La Habra.

For the Highlanders (5-5, 3-1), it’s the third win over Sonora (5-6, 3-1) in 10 tries since Paul Caffrey took over as head coach three seasons ago. It’s the first win for La Habra at Sonora.

The Raiders got off to a quick start in the first inning with four base hits, including RBI hits by Brandon Chandler, Wilkinson and Blodgett as Staumont labored on the mound.

La Habra answered in the second inning when Chad Ferreira drove in little brother Zack with an RBI-double.

After the first inning, Staumont settled down, allowing three hits from the second inning through the sixth inning.

The Highlanders slowly gained momentum and in the fifth inning, they finally got to Pettey for two runs. Zack Ferreira knocked a two-RBI single with the bases loaded, scoring Porter and Oviedo, but La Habra stranded two runners to end the inning.

In the sixth inning, La Habra was back for more. Five consecutive batters recorded base hits off of reliever Brandon Quintero, the big ones coming off the bats of Oviedo with an RBI-single and Villicana with a two-RBI single.

Staumont finished with six innings pitched, allowing five earned runs on eight hits while striking out four in a no decision as Porter was credited with the win.

On the other side, Pettey threw four-and-one-thirds innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out six. Brandon Mataisz was charged with the loss.

The win evens up both teams in the Freeway League standings at 3-1. The two are tied with Sunny Hills, which beat Troy to improve to 3-1.

La Habra will face off against Troy at home on Friday, while Sonora will head to Buena Park. Games start at 3:15pm.

Long finally gets run support, Highlanders roll

Spencer Long had been waiting for his offense to give him some support and at long last, his wish came true in a 12-1 rout of Buena Park in a Freeway League game at La Habra High.

Long, who pitched a complete game 1-0 loss to against Sunny Hills last week, pitched six innings against the Coyotes, allowing one earned run on four hits while striking out five batters and walking none.

The offense again came out firing in the second inning, putting up seven runs on five hits to take an early commanding lead.

Against Fullerton on Wednesday, the Highlanders scored four runs in the second inning.

After Chad Ferreira got the scoring started with a run-scoring single, Buena Park starting pitcher Troy Nelson hit the next two batters he faced, loading the bases for Aaron Porter. A second run scored on Ferreira’s hit when the ball got past left fielder Richard Cabral.

The senior, Porter, smacked a seeing-eye single to the left side to score two more runs and Zack Ferreira followed with a two-RBI single three batters later.

La Habra tacked on another run in the third with a RBI groundout by Marcus Lopez.

In the fourth inning, La Habra went back to work as the first five batters reached base and four came around to score. Omar Villicana, Zack Ferreira and Jacob Looney each came away with RBI hits.

Buena Park’s Nelson looked to match La Habra’s Long on the mound as both retired the side in order in the first inning. However, in those second and fourth innings, it seemed that once the Highlanders strung together a couple baserunners, the wheels fell off track just a little bit.

Nelson finished with four innings pitched, giving up 12 runs, however not all of them were earned, on seven hits, striking out four while walking three batters and hitting two more.

Where Nelson struggled, Long got stronger, retiring the first 12 batters he faced in order with a little help from catcher Jacob Looney, who threw Ryan Jaime who tried to steal second after recording the first hit for Buena Park in the third inning.

Aside from the fifth inning, in which five batters reached the plate, the Highlanders retired the side in order in every inning.

Looney threw out another runner at second base in the sixth inning to aid Long once again.

The Coyotes scored their lone run of the game in the fifth inning after shortstop Damien Crew led things off with a single. Three batters later, Cody Gutierrez hit a ground ball that found a rough patch in the dirt and skipped under the glove of Brett Mays for a run-scoring single.

In the fifth inning, Buena Park’s Timmy Ambrozic came in to pitch from third base and slowed down La Habra’s quick paced offense, getting out of a jam in the fifth inning after allowing a leadoff double to Mays.

Ambrozic retired the side in order in the sixth inning.

Porter closed the game for the Highlanders with a quick 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh.

In the first seven games of the season, La Habra had scored just 19 runs. The team has scored 24 in the last two since the slow start.

For La Habra and coach Paul Caffrey, the offensive production is encouraging as they head to Sonora to face off with the first-place Raiders on Wednesday.

Buena Park will hope to get its first Freeway League win against Fullerton on Wednesday.

Highlander bats make loud statement

Through the first seven games of the season, the La Habra baseball team has displayed good pitching and defense, but while the Highlanders were also hitting, they were struggling to bring runners home.

That problem was erased quickly in a 12-2 rout of Fullerton on the road on Wednesday afternoon, as La Habra struck for 14 hits, six of them for extra bases and three of those were home runs.

After a quick first inning, La Habra (3-5, 1-1) strung together three consecutive hits to drive in one run, Sean Sparling scored on a passed ball and Brett Mays, the junior designated hitter, lined a pitch over the yellow line in left-center field for a two run homer.

The next inning, a hit and a walk preceded a towering home run to center field by Josh Staumont and in the fourth inning, Zack Ferreira smashed a two-RBI double, Sparling drive in a run and Aaron Porter hit a sacrifice fly as La Habra put together 11 runs in three innings.

Porter would add his second home run of the season in the seventh inning, a solo shot to dead center field.

On the mound, Staumont continued to power through opposing lineups, despite giving up his first run of the season in the third inning, snapping a streak of 15 straight scoreless innings to start his season.

The senior right-hander pitched five innings, allowed one earned run on three hits while striking out nine batters and walking two en route to his third victory of the season.

In the bottom of the third inning, a leadoff single by Peter Vazquez came back to haunt Staumont as he came to score on a single by Erik Reyes, who was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.

Staumont allowed only one other hit to Keaton Slack, who was thrown out by catcher Jacob Looney at second base on an attempted steal.

Sparling, who went 4-for-5 from the plate, pitched the final two innings for the Highlanders, allowing one earned run on two hits and striking out two batters.

After an infield single to start the sixth inning for the Indians (2-5-1, 0-2), Anthony Howard came around to score on a long double by designated hitter River Fawley.

Fullerton’s sophomore starting pitcher, Jacob Channel, who gave up seven earned runs in two-and-one-third innings pitched, was charged with the loss.

Staumont also went 4-for-4 at the plate with a home run and three singles. AJ Oviedo also recorded a multi-hit game and scored twice.

Fullerton will try to reverse its fortunes with a road game against city rival Troy on Friday.

The Highlanders will have their first home game of the Freeway League season against an upstart Buena Park team which will most likely start Troy Nelson, a senior who has shut out La Habra before, two years ago.

Twomey, Golden Hawks get back on right track

The scouts followed El Dorado pitcher Kyle Twomey to El Modena High on Monday and the senior left-hander followed his trend from last year as the bounce-back pitcher for the Golden Hawks, shutting out the Vanguards in a 4-0 win.

The victory comes three days after a 5-0 defeat at home at the hands of the Esperanza Aztecs, who remained undefeated in the Century League after beating Brea Olinda 3-1 this afternoon.

Twomey powered through the Vanguards’ lineup with fastballs and changeups the first time through, then mixed in his curveball on the second rotation to keep El Modena (4-4, 2-1) guessing.

The middle of El Dorado’s batting order did the most damage. Despite only having two hits amongst them, Nathan Rodriguez, Chris Rivera and Scott Serigstad reached base on nine out of 12 plate appearances.

Rodriguez and Rivera came around to score with two outs in the top of the first inning when Mike Covelli hit a groundball to shortstop Kyle Zimmerman, who had to range far away from first base and couldn’t get the throw to first in time.

Rivera scored from second anticipating the long throw from Zimmerman.

Twomey would have been just fine with those two runs, but in the top of the sixth inning, the bottom of the lineup provided some cushion and the pitcher helped his own cause.

With one out, Twomey recorded an infield single and Kyle Eckart came on to pinch run. Two batters and a stolen base later, Drew Winter drove home Eckart with a line drive to right center field.

Winter then reached second base, third base and home plate on passed balls by El Modena catcher Ray Henderson-Lozano for the fourth run of the game.

Twomey closed the door in the seventh inning, thanks to a remarkable unassisted double play by Covelli at first base.

Covelli’s play wasn’t the only spectacular display behind Twomey on the day, Rivera made a couple more throws on the run while charging slow-rolling ground balls and PJ Conlon made a diving catch toward the left-field foul line on a sinking line drive.

Twomey earned his third victory after pitching a complete game shutout, while allowing six hits, no walks and striking out four batters.

Junior pitcher Nathan Kuchta was charged with the loss for El Modena and fell to 1-2 after pitching four innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits, three walks and two hit batters, while striking out two batters.

Henderson-Lozano went 2-for-3 with two singles and third baseman Austin Case went 2-for-3 with two doubles, but was stranded on second base both times.

El Dorado (5-4, 3-1) will move on to face Villa Park on the road on Wednesday while El Modena prepares for a road game at Brea Olinda.

Hawks stay hot, blow out Canyon

In only it’s second league contest, it was more of the same from the El Dorado baseball team as they dismantled Canyon on the road, 13-0, to move to 2-0 early in Century League play.

The Golden Hawks scored 11 runs in the middle three innings of the game, including a five-run outburst in the third inning that changed the pace of the game.

Controversy started in the top of the third inning when PJ Conlon led off with a hit down the first-base line that was called fair by the field umpire. The result was a double, much to the disliking of Canyon head coach Joe Hoggatt, who immediately went out to have a discussion with the field umpire.

It would be the first of two conversations between Hoggatt and the field umpire in the third inning.

After a groundout by Nathan Rodriguez got Conlon to third base, the next four batters recorded base hits and Chris Rivera, Mike Covelli and Kyle Twomey each drove in one run with Covelli scoring a fourth run on an errant throw home from the outfield. Drew Winter added a squeeze bunt to bring Twomey home.

In the bottom half of the inning, Canyon (3-4, 0-2) appeared to have something going with two outs as Cameron Baranek and Joe Van Marter each singled to load the bases.

However, a pickoff throw by Conlon just beat Van Marter back to first, according to the field umpire, which ended the inning and prompted another heated discussion from the appropriately upset Hoggatt.

From then on, everything went El Dorado’s way, as two errors led to three more runs in the fourth inning and consecutive triples led to three more in the fifth inning.

Scott Serigstad finished a home run shy of the cycle, while Chris Rivera went 3-for-4 with a triple, four RBI and three runs scored.

Serigstad also scored three runs, Conlon and Rodriguez added two each on a day in which the Golden Hawks (4-3, 2-0) totaled 16 hits and had three more reach on errors.

Conlon got the start on the mound and pitched five solid shutout innings, labored a bit in the third inning, but bounced back and allowed just five hits while striking out three batters and walking none for his second victory of the season.

On the other side, Canyon starter Kevin Burns allowed six runs in two-and-a-thirds innings and Garrett Knutson allowed six runs in two-and-two-thirds innings.

Knutson reached base on all three plate appearances and finished 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, he also reached on an error. Four other Comanches recorded singles.

For the Golden Hawks, it continues the momentum started after a 1-0 loss at Tustin right before league play. The Golden Hawks have outscored Brea Olinda and Canyon 21-2 in two Century League games.

Canyon, after a close loss to Foothill, will have to shake the loss off in a short amount of time as they will battle at Brea Olinda on Friday.

El Dorado will face off against the league’s only other 2-0 team, last year’s CIF-SS Division 1 runner-up, Esperanza at home Friday.

Dazzling defense segues to offensive onslaught for El Dorado

With dozens of major league baseball scouts in attendance to watch El Dorado pitching ace Kyle Twomey perform, it was the brilliance of shortstop Chris Rivera defensively that stole the show in El Dorado’s 8-2 victory over Brea Olinda in the Century League opener for both teams.

Rivera’s flair on the field led to a pumped up Golden Hawks’ offense as El Dorado muscled three runs in the third inning and four more in the fifth inning.

In each inning, the Golden Hawks were aided with back-to-back-to-back run producing plays, as those leading off did their job to get on base.

Leadoff hitter Seve Romo and Nathan Rodriguez chipped in with two RBI each, while Drew Winter, batting in the ninth spot in the lineup, scored three runs.

And while Twomey labored on the mound, giving up two runs in the top of the fourth inning, the offense stretched the lead for the left-handed senior before he went out for the top of the sixth inning.

Twomey gave up two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts in six innings of work en route to his second victory of the young season.

The senior struggled to establish his pitches on the corners of the plate, but that was when Rivera chipped in with sparkling plays.

In the top of the third inning, the Wildcats loaded the bases with no one out as Twomey walked the leadoff hitter, an error led to another runner and Kyle Kasser bunted his way aboard.

However, Twomey got Brea Olinda leadoff hitter Garrett Volmer to strike out on three pitches before Rivera made noise.

Luke Lee, the following batter, grounded straight to second base before Rivera cut it off, applied a tag to the sliding Kasser and fired to first, retiring Lee by less than a half-step to end the inning without allowing a run.

The play fired up El Dorado and Twomey came out with an infield single to start the bottom half. After being sacrificed to second base, Winter drew a walk and a passed ball allowed both runners to advance to second and third base.

Romo started the scoring with a sacrifice fly, but El Dorado tacked on two more with a RBI single by PJ Conlon and a RBI double by Rodriguez.

Brea Olinda answered back immediately, taking advantage of Twomey’s lack of precision to draw a leadoff walk. Two batters later, Jacob McFarland smashed a double to drive in the Wildcats’ first run. McFarland came around to score three batters later when Ross Olson singled.

However, Rivera and the Golden Hawks weren’t done. A pair of leaping catches on high line drives by Rivera led to a big fifth inning that did the most damage against Brea Olinda starter Mitchell Miralaie.

Winter, Romo and Conlon started off the inning with consecutive singles, before Rodriguez drove home Winter on a fielder’s choice out to second base. Rivera followed with a bunt down the first base line that scored Romo and Scott Serigstad delivered a triple to the right field corner for a RBI.

Serigstad would score on a passed ball.

In the sixth inning, Romo added one more RBI triple.

Rivera came in to close the door for El Dorado, despite allowing two base runners.

For the Golden Hawks, the win provides answers to what has ailed the team most throughout it’s first six games: offensive consistency and attitude. El Dorado will try to continue the momentum when they play Canyon on the road Wednesday.

Brea Olinda will have two extra days to recoup before hosting Canyon at home on Friday.