Vigilantes Eating Up Opponents

The Vigilantes may be reluctant to leave Orange County after today’s game, because the home cooking has been very good of late.

On Saturday the Vigilantes took their second in a row from Northern Division-leading Reno, 4-1, in front of an announced crowd of 2,017 at Saddleback College.

The victory--the fourth in the last five--brought Mission Viejo (15-18) within six games of Southern Division-leading Sonoma County, which lost to Grays Harbor.

“Our guys are starting to believe in themselves,” said acting manager Brad Lesley.

Vigilante right-hander Mark Tranberg, making his second start of the year after missing 15 games because of a shoulder strain, looked as if he had never been away. He pitched five scoreless innings, fanning eight and walking one.

Relievers Aaron Magdaleno (2 1/3 innings) and Kirt Kishita (1 2/3 innings) made sure Tranberg did not lose his first victory. Kishita got the game’s final out and his sixth save by kicking Scott Pfeifer’s grounder toward first then taking the return throw from Corey Parker and just beating Pfeifer to the bag.

“We had him on a 55-65 pitch limit,” Lesley said of Tranberg. “He threw 60 on the nose. To get 60 pitches in five innings from a healthy guy is phenomenal.”

Reno right-hander Tony Enard (1-1), making only his third start in eight appearances, was shaky in the beginning.

He hit two batters in the first--Carl Nichols took one in the helmet, but was not seriously hurt--and gave up a run-scoring double to Alan Burke.

Mission Viejo could have broken the game open, loading the bases three times in the first three innings, but could not apply the telling blow.

But in the fourth Sam Taylor ripped his eighth home run (tying him with Burke for the team lead) over the right-field fence. Bret Barberie followed with a single, and when John Roberts dropped Burke’s flyball in center for an error, manager Butch Hughes decided Enard was through. Nichols greeted reliever Jason Adage with a single, loading the bases for the fourth consecutive inning. But this time the Vigilantes cashed in the opportunity, as Parker’s two-out single drove in a pair.

“This homestand it was important for us to start playing better,” said Parker, who had two hits. “We’ve been saying it would happen but you could tell looking at the guys that we needed to see it happen.”

Reno (21-12) had gone 15 innings without a run--dating back to the eighth inning of Thursday’s game against Salinas--until Paul Ellis drove in Todd Takayoshi with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Before the game, the Vigilantes signed infielder Willie Mosher, who was released by Madison (Wis.) of the independent Northern League.