Prep baseball: Eagles hold off Saints

COSTA MESA - Estancia High junior Jordan Hart pitched five no-hit

innings before giving way to relief and teammate Justin Lund belted a

three-run first-inning homer to key the Eagles’ 4-2 baseball win over

Santa Ana Friday.

The first-round game of the Foothill-Costa Mesa Tournament was held at

Estancia, but Santa Ana was the designated host. Estancia will visit

Bolsa Grande in Tuesday’s championship quarterfinal at 3 p.m.

Hart struck out five and walked two, before Coach Doug Deats elected

to replace him on the mound for the final two innings.

“He was cruising through four, but he started to struggle a little in

the fifth,” Deats said. “He pithced out of a jam in the fifth, so I

decided not to let him start the sixth.”

The Saints rallied for an unearned run in the sixth and added another

run in the seventh, before senior Armando Ortiz closed the door to earn

the save.

Ortiz opened the scoring, reaching on an error, stealing second and

coming home on Brent Davis’ RBI single.

Then, after Hart reached on another Saint error, Lund went yard for

all the runs the Eagles would need.

“I was just telling the guys, before the game, that I’d never seen a

home run hit to left field in an afternoon game at Estancia,” Deats said.

“So where does Lund hit one? And in the first inning.”

Lund was 2 for 4, while Davis finished 3 for 4.

The Eagles left the bases loaded in the first, then stranded eight

more in the final six innings to allow Santa Ana to stay in the game.

J.D. Goff had a double for Estancia, which doubled Santa Ana’s hit

total, 6-3. Both teams combined for nine errors.

FOOTHILL-COSTA MESA TOURNAMENT

First round

Estancia 4, Santa Ana 2

Estancia 400 000 0 - 4 6 5

Santa Ana 000 001 1 - 2 3 4

Hart, Flori (6), Ortiz (6) and Davis; Gomez, Garcia (5) and Lopez. W -

Hart, 1-0. L - Gomez, 0-1. Sv - Ortiz. 2B - Goff (E). HR - Lund (E).