Oilers make history

Huntington Beach High baseball coach Benji Medure said Tuesday night that he feels like his team can play with anybody.

It makes sense. In the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs, the Oilers have not only beaten some tough opponents, but they’ve now done what no other team at Huntington Beach High has ever done in 105 years of baseball: advance to the CIF finals.

Huntington Beach edged Chino Hills, 9-8, on the road Tuesday to advance to the Division II championship game against Crespi, at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

“I’m just proud of my kids for believing in themselves and giving the effort,” Medure said.

“Even though we were a third-place team [in the Sea View League], we believed.”

Junior Sean Guite was four for five with two doubles for the Oilers, who had stunned the No. 1-ranked team in the state, Yucaipa, by a 10-2 score in a Division II quarterfinal game Friday at Huntington Beach.

Senior Beau Amaral had three hits, and juniors Jon Combest and Buddy Johns added two each for the Oilers against Chino Hills, helping them build up a 9-3 lead heading into the seventh inning. Senior Barry Luke pitched six strong innings for Huntington Beach (19-12).

The hosts scored five times in the bottom of the seventh on a pair of home runs to make it interesting, but senior Blake Cestr got the third out with the tying run on first.

“We thought we were going to pull it out, but it was a little nerve-wracking,” Medure said.

In earlier action, the Oilers stunned Yucaipa at home. Cestr, normally the closer, allowed just one earned run for his first win of the year.

“I don’t think anyone outside of this dugout believed that we could get it done today,” Medure said after the upset.

Yucaipa, the Citrus Belt League champion, finished with a 27-3 record.

“We end seasons,” Cestr said. “We’ve been saying it as much as we can. We end seasons. We try to go into every game with a swagger and a confidence.”

Cestr got tough Friday. After allowing back-to-back singles to open the game, he got Yucaipa senior Matt Davidson to ground into a double play to end the threat.

Then the Oilers’ bats started working. With one out in the bottom of the first, Guite singled, and Amaral followed with a towering home run to right for a 2-0 lead.

But they weren’t finished against Yucaipa starter Frank Martin. Combest reached on an error — one of five on Yucaipa infielders — and Cestr and Johns (three for four) followed with singles to load the bases. Jake Porter walked to force in a run. An out later, David Van Doornum reached on a wild throw to first, allowing two runs to score and staking Huntington Beach to a 5-0 lead after an inning.

Now, the Oilers are one win away from a CIF title.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.