Prep Baseball Playoffs : Wild-Card Entry Esperanza Wins Again

Doug Saunders and Jason Moler each hit home runs in the first inning, and Esperanza of Anaheim battered Simi Valley ace Scott Sharts for 8 runs in 2 innings as the Aztecs routed the Pioneers, 10-1, Friday in a 5-A Southern Section quarterfinal game at Esperanza.

The Aztecs (20-8), who entered the playoffs after winning a wild-card game, scored three runs in the first inning and five in the third to take an 8-1 lead. Moler, who had three runs batted in, gave up just four hits and didn’t walk a batter in five innings. Esperanza, the 1986 champion and 1987 runner-up, will play Beverly Hills, a 9-3 winner over Nogales, in the semifinals Tuesday.

In another 5-A game, Long Beach Millikan pitcher David Mauss walked in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning as Riverside Poly advanced to the semifinals, 6-5, at Riverside Poly. Randy Graves hit a two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game for Riverside Poly (21-8), which will meet Diamond Bar, a 7-5 winner over Huntington Beach Ocean View.

Scott Davison extended his Southern Section career hit record to 148 and struck out 14 as Redondo beat Cerritos, 6-1, in a 4-A division game at Redondo. Redondo (30-2) will play Covina, which beat Fullerton, 4-3.

Also in the 4-A, Ventura beat Anaheim Canyon, 10-7, and will play West Covina South Hills, a 16-6 winner over Oxnard Hueneme.

In the 3-A, El Toro beat Oxnard Santa Clara, 5-2, to advance to the semifinals against Saddleback, a 5-3 winner over Dana Point Dana Hills. La Mirada beat Whittier California, 4-0, and Chino routed Central, 10-0, as pitcher Mike St. Esteben improved to 16-0.

David Waco capped a five-run fourth inning with a three-run home run to lead Chatsworth, the No. 1 seed in the City 4-A division, to a 7-3 win over Sylmar at Chatsworth.

Chatsworth trailed, 3-2, in the fourth before Art Lowe singled in Joel Wolfe from second base to tie the game. Rex McMackin doubled in Lowe to give the Chancellors a 4-3 lead and two batters later, Waco hit his homer.

Chatsworth (25-1) will face San Fernando, which got past San Pedro, 4-3, in the semifinals.

Also in the 4-A, Ricky Banuelos had four hits and three RBIs as defending champion Canoga Park beat Granada Hills Kennedy, 12-5.

Adam Schulhofer’s two-run homer highlighted a four-run third inning for Canoga Park (13-7). Kennedy, which had won 10 consecutive games, had 13 hits but stranded 10 runners.

Canoga Park will meet Sepulveda Monroe, a 5-4 winner over Wilmington Banning.

At Washington High, Marshall scored four runs in the first inning en route to a 11-2 win over the Generals in the 3-A division quarterfinals. Jose Chavez went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs and and Ramon Hernandez went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs for Marshall, which will face No. 1 seed University in the semifinals. University beat Huntington Park, 6-3.

Also in the 3-A, Jesse Aldana pitched a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts to lead defending champion Bell to an 8-1 win over Manual Arts. Bell will face Los Angeles Wilson, a 5-4 winner over Palisades.