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).
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