Baseball: Estancia falls to University

Tony Altobelli

IRVINE - Estancia High’s baseball team had its chances with host

University Friday afternoon, but the Eagles’ gloves let them down in an

11-4 loss.

“Our kids played hard out there, we had a good approach at the plate, but

our defense cost us,” Coach Doug Deats said. “Our kids have nothing to be

ashamed of.”

Seven errors by Estancia (4-7, 0-4 in league) led to seven unearned runs,

five of which came in the first two innings, putting the Eagles down,

6-0.

Five of those runs came in the first inning, with the biggest blow,

literally, coming with two outs when Phil Wood’s bases-loaded, wind-aided

fly ball fell just shy of the outstretched glove of the charging Eagles’

centerfielder, scoring all three Trojan runners.

But a four-run third inning brought Estancia off the mat and back into

the game.

J.B. Goff led off the inning with a double to left and scored on a single

by Justin Lund.

Matt Mueller and C.K. Green each followed an out with singles to load the

bases for cleanup hitter David Akiva.

The big senior did his job, lacing a double to right center, scoring

Green, Mueller and Lund, cutting the lead to 6-4.

“David came through with the clutch hit,” Deats said. “That’s what we ask

from our seniors and he did his job.”

It remained 6-4 until the fifth when another costly error brought in

another unearned run, extending the lead to, 7-4.

Green was a battler on the mound, using his assortment of off-speed

pitches to keep the Trojans (9-3, 4-0) guessing at the plate. He went

five-plus innings, allowing only four earned runs with a couple of

strikeouts.

“C.K. competed for us out there today,” Deats said. “He hung in there

against some pretty tough hitting.”

The Trojans’ defense, solid for most of the game, nearly gave the Eagles

a shot in the sixth, when a two-out error kept the inning alive. After

Armando Ortiz walked, the bases were loaded with the go-ahead run at the

plate, but a long fly ball to the Uni center fielder ended the threat.

The Trojans, ranked No. 5 in Orange County, opened the game up in the

sixth, scoring four runs on four hits with three Eagles’ errors thrown

into the mix.

University’s starter Erik Foreman didn’t have his best stuff, but pitched

5 2/3 innings and picked up the win, improving to 4-0.

The Eagles had 11 hits, with Akiva, Green and Lund picking up two apiece.

With Estancia having trouble with its fielding, the Trojans were solid

with the gloves, stopping two Eagles’ threats with inning-ending double

plays.

“We hit the ball real well out there today,” Deats said. “You got to hand

it to those guys. They really did the job out there, both offensively and

defensively.”

Next up for the Eagles is rival Costa Mesa or, “the green school,” as

Deats would say, Tuesday at home. Game time is 3 p.m.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

University 11, Estancia 4

Estancia 004 000 0 - 4 11 7

University 510 014 x - 11 13 1

Green, Hart (6) and Davis; Foreman, Ochoa (6) and Wood. W - Foreman, 4-0.

L - Green, 3-4. 2B - Akiva (E), Goff (E), Nichols (U), Wood (U).