EMPIRE LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Bad Bounces Help Esperanza Recover for 6-5 Comeback Victory Over Katella

Top-ranked Esperanza had a lead, lost it, reclaimed it, lost it again, then regained it one final time.

A two-run seventh inning was enough to give the Aztecs a 6-5 victory over Katella in an Empire League baseball game Wednesday at Boysen Park in Anaheim.

Nothing was certain and nothing came easily for either team.

Take the seventh inning, for instance.

A run in the bottom of the sixth had given Katella a 5-4 lead against Esperanza relief pitcher Jeff Bowman. And if a couple of balls had taken kinder bounces for Katella, the Knights might have won. It didn’t turn out that way, however.

With one out in the seventh, Esperanza’s Erickson Dumaual singled, stole second, then scored when Poncho Ruiz’s grounder bounced off third baseman Dennis Briggs’ glove and into short center field.

Ruiz went to second on the throw home, took third on a wild pitch, then scored on a groundout. Briggs gloved Keith McDonald’s slow roller and took a peek at Ruiz, who had a big jump toward home. Briggs decided to get McDonald and a sure out at first rather than try for Ruiz at the plate.

The next batter, Jason Hodges, grounded out to end the inning, but Esperanza had the runs it needed.

“When they got ahead, at least we battled back,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “We weren’t firing on all cylinders today. Maybe the tournament took a little bit out of us.”

Last week, Esperanza beat El Dorado, 14-4, to win the Upper Deck Classic championship and this week was voted No. 1 in the season’s first Orange County Sportswriters’ Assn. poll.

Wednesday’s victory moved Esperanza (13-1, 3-1 in league) into a tie for second place with Katella (8-6, 3-1). El Dorado leads the league.

“El Dorado’s still riding a wave,” Curran said. “We’ve got to stay consistent until we play them again next week.”

It was a frustrating loss for Katella Coach Tim McMenamin.

“We had (Esperanza) right there,” he said. “I can’t fault (Katella’s) effort.”

In other Empire League baseball:

El Dorado 10, Cypress 3--Tyson Dowdell scattered nine hits and struck out six for El Dorado. Brian Loya had three hits--a single, double and triple--and scored three runs and Gar Vallone had three hits and three RBIs for El Dorado (11-3, 4-0). Cypress is 2-9, 1-3.