South Coast League : Long and the Short of It: Dana Hills Wins, 9-8 : Dolphins Are Now Tied for First Place in the South Coast

Dana Hills High School played long ball most of the afternoon but it was Tony Ferguson’s infield hit in the ninth inning that drove in the winning run and gave the Dolphins a 9-8 victory Friday over host Mission Viejo.

The sun was setting and many of the cars racing down the nearby San Diego Freeway had their lights on when Ferguson came to the plate with the score tied, 8-8, and runners on first and third with two outs. Ferguson hit a sharp grounder to deep short that Diablo David Hori managed to glove but had nowhere to make a play.

The scratch hit scored Eddie Esteban, broke the tie and, more importantly, moved the Dolphins into a tie with El Toro for first place in the South Coast League. Dana Hills is 5-2 in league play and 9-7 overall, and Mission Viejo slipped to 4-3 and 12-6.

It was an unlikely win for the Dolphins. They trailed, 5-1, after three innings but a three-run homer by third baseman Bill Lasher in the fourth inning pulled them to within a run and then the Dolphins opened an 8-6 lead in the next inning on catcher Scott Hefner’s grand slam.

Dana Hills is a team that likes to go deep. It’s also a team that has learned to keep the celebration short following a home run. The Dolphins came into the game with 17 home runs in 15 games and had one disallowed last week when an umpire ruled Hefner out for shaking Coach Bob Canary’s hand as he rounded third base.

Friday, Canary purposely moved back clear of the base path and ordered his players to remain near the dugout and away from home plate after Lasher and Hefner hit their homers. The Dolphins needed all the runs they could get in this ballgame.

The 8-6 lead was shortlived as Mission Viejo mounted a two-run rally in the bottom of the fifth. Bobby Doran singled with two outs to start the rally and then teammates Brenden Murphy, Mark Preston and David Hori followed with consecutive hits to tie the score at 8.

Hori, a heady leadoff hitter, managed to reach base in six consecutive at-bats, singling three times, walking, getting hit by a pitch and reaching on an error. He scored three runs, but was stranded on base twice as the Diablos left 11 runners on base in the final five innings.

“We certainly had our chances,” Diablo Coach Ron Drake said. “I thought we had our opportunities in the late innings and how many times did we score?”

The Diablos failed to score in the sixth or seventh innings after loading the bases with one out. Each time, relief pitcher Tim Strauch avoided trouble with a key strikeout and ultimately gained the win in relief of Esteban.

Strauch struck out Murphy and got Preston to ground out to second to end the sixth inning and then forced Robert D’Marino to ground into a force play and home and struck out Don Roberson to end the seventh.

The Dolphins’ defense came to Strauch aid in the eighth inning. Esteban, who moved to right field after tiring on the mound, made an excellent over-the-shoulder catch to rob Doran of a double and Jim Reiley made a nice play at deep short to get Murphy.

Dana Hills pushed across a run in the ninth, but Mission Viejo managed to get two runners aboard with two outs in the inning before Strauch got D’Marino to bounce to second to end the game.

“I thought Tim showed some guts on the mound,” Canary said. “He’s had some rough outings lately so this was nice. Our defense was real bad today and we managed to give Mission Viejo four or five outs in a couple of innings. We won despite the errors and some poor pitching.”

Mission Viejo took advantage of the Dolphins’ poor fielding and some wildness by Esteban to score four runs on only one hit in the third inning. Esteban walked in two runs and an error by Reiley allowed two more runs to score. But no lead was safe in this game.

“Give Dana Hills the credit for winning,” Drake said. “They made two great defensive plays in the eighth inning and their relief pitcher battled his way out of some big jams. When the game was on the line, they made the big plays.”

In other league action:

San Clemente 6, Capistrano Valley 2--Keyed by John Adams’ bases-loaded double, the Triton scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to get their first win. San Clemente (1-6, 1-15) took a 1-0 lead when catcher Todd Suffridge hit his second home run of the season. Winning pitcher Slade Ponsen (1-1) went the distance, striking out five and walking three.