SOUTH COAST LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Caso’s Brand of Torrid Hitting Is to Capistrano Valley’s Liking

Is there a hotter hitter in Orange County than Capistrano Valley High School’s Caso Brand?

Brand, a catcher, continued on a torrid streak Wednesday, getting two hits and driving in three runs in Capistrano Valley’s 8-2 victory over host Mission Viejo in South Coast League play.

Brand hit his second home run in two days, lining a three-run shot over the right-field fence in the seventh inning.

Brand has 11 hits in 18 at-bats and has driven in 14 runs in his last six games. He was six for 11 in the Upper Deck Classic last week and was named to the all-tournament team. He got three hits Monday in a league victory over San Clemente, then added a single and a home run against Mission Viejo.

“He’s on fire,” said Bob Zamora, Capistrano Valley coach.

“I thought we played good team baseball today. We scored three runs in the first inning with two outs and then got two runners into scoring position and scored on fly balls. This is a very unselfish team.”

Junior right-hander Scott Patton (3-1) benefited from Capistrano Valley’s fine play, allowing only an unearned run in the six innings he worked. Patton showed signs of tiring in the sixth, walking the first two batters he faced, but Capistrano Valley got a double play to bail him out of the inning.

Capistrano Valley (9-4, 2-1 in league) played sound defense and appears to be the team to beat in the South Coast League. Two of the Cougars’ four losses came against Esperanza, the county’s top-ranked team.

“I thought we played evenly with Esperanza but errors killed us,” Zamora said. Esperanza beat Capistrano Valley, 11-8 and 13-10.

Mission Viejo (6-5, 1-2) played with little emotion after falling behind, 3-0, in the first inning. The Diablos got only three hits and its top hitter, shortstop Tim Snowden, went 0 for four after entering the game with a .417 batting average.

In other South Coast League games:

El Toro 8, Dana Hills 3--Mark VerWayne pitched a five-hitter, striking out one and walking two, for visiting El Toro. Sal Schacter had three hits and scored twice for the Chargers, who scored four runs in the second inning, making the score 4-0, and never trailed. Jaime Todd hit a home run in the seventh inning and Keith Barnett had a two-run double in the second for host Dana Hills (6-5, 1-2).

Irvine 12, San Clemente 7--Aaron Garcia had four hits and five RBIs and Mark Huffman had three hits, scored three runs and stole two bases for Irvine (9-4, 2-1). The Vaqueros won despite committing five errors, allowing three passed balls and throwing two wild pitches.