Edison sweeps Marina

Coach Steve Lambright said only twice in his 10 years with the Edison High baseball program have the Chargers swept Marina.

This is one of those years, as Edison — first place in the Sunset League — used a pair of home runs from junior outfielder Eric Snyder and strong pitching from senior Nic Hanson to win, 7-1, on Friday at Marina High.

Snyder, who had a solo home run in a 1-0 victory over Los Alamitos the previous week, finished Friday’s game three for three with the two homers and five runs batted in.

“I’ve been really focusing on my stance lately, and I’ve just been seeing the ball great,” Snyder said. “I haven’t been trying to do too much with it. If the ball goes, the ball goes, and today it went out twice. “

“That [second home run] was probably one of my best hits I’ve ever had, especially to hit it into the wind in left-center.”

Hanson improved to 5-1 with a 2.91 earned-run average. Senior first baseman Tanner Phillips also homered for the Chargers.

“It was probably our [most] well-played game the entire year, in terms of playing all three facets of the game [pitching, hitting and defense],” Lambright said. “ We’re almost rolling into May now, and when we get into May, that’s when you want to be playing your best baseball. That’s when league championships are won and obviously when you can make a run into the playoffs. Hopefully, we’re heading in that direction.”

Edison (8-1 in league) is trying to win back-to-back league titles for the first time in program history. The Chargers, ranked No. 6 in Division I, can take a big step toward that by sweeping No. 9 Esperanza (7-2) this week. Wednesday’s game was at Edison and Friday’s game is at Esperanza.

“It’s going to be a great matchup,” Snyder said. “They’re a great team. They can swing it, man.”

Marina was tied for last at 2-7 in league headed into this week’s tilt against Fountain Valley. In the game against Edison on Friday, the Vikings scored their lone run when senior third baseman Chad Lewis’ single up the middle scored senior catcher Vinny Ponce.

“We’ve got to keep our concentration,” Marina Coach Paul Renfrow said. “Even where we are right now, at 2-7, we’ve got six ballgames with people that we’re competing with for a playoff spot. All we’ve got to do is go out and compete against those people. We win these next six games and we end up in third place. We’ve just got to keep that in focus.”

FOUNTAIN VALLEY

The Barons are surging after sweeping Los Alamitos last week to improve to 11-8, and 4-5 in league. Coming into this week they were tied with Newport Harbor for the third and final guaranteed CIF Southern Section Division I playoff spot from the Sunset League.

Coach Ron LaRuffa said the team has really been clicking after a good showing at an Easter tournament in Palm Springs.

“That kind of turned things around for us,” LaRuffa said.

Fountain Valley has been spurred by strong pitching from sophomore lefty Zach Milan. Senior catcher Eddie Alvarez (batting .328), senior designated hitter Aaron Ochoa (.404 with 20 RBIs) and senior center fielder Adam Scott (.348) have also been key cogs.

Fountain Valley is aiming to make CIF, and could help its cause by beating Marina in its two games this week.

HUNTINGTON BEACH

The Oilers split with Northwood in Sea View League action last week, winning on Wednesday, 4-3, before falling Friday, 6-5. In the win, David Vandoornum (3-1) got the win, while Dylan Verrastro and Sean Guite each had two hits and scored twice. Verrastro scored the deciding run by stealing home.

Huntington Beach (10-10, 4-5 in league) is in a three-way tie for third place in league with Woodbridge and Northwood. This week, the Oilers play El Toro (7-2 in league), which is in second place.

“We are battling right now,” Coach Benji Medure said. “I still don’t think we have played our best baseball. We have six more games to do it. There isn’t a better time to do it than El Toro week.”

OCEAN VIEW

The Seahawks maintained their grip on first place in the Golden West League by winning a pair of games over Segerstrom last week. Ocean View is now 8-1 in league; defending champion Orange sits at 7-2. The first game was a 9-7 win at Segerstrom. Blake Walker pitched a complete game, picking up his fourth win. He was also two for three with two runs scored. Aaron Delgado and Blake Hitchcock both finished three for four, with Hitchcock hitting a home run. The Seahawks were up 9-3 before holding off a late Segerstrom rally.

Friday’s game was another strong one, and sophomore Colton Johnson got the surprise start after senior Nick Schulenburg’s elbow had some tightness. Johnson got the win and also went three for four with two RBIs. Also noteworthy was junior pitcher Alfred Sepulveda, who returned from shoulder surgery last December for his first action of the season. He pitched the seventh.

“It was really good to see Freddy back on the mound again,” Coach Shane Borowski said. “He has such a presence out there, it just looks like he belongs there. He is only a junior and we want to make sure his arm stays healthy. He will see limited time on the mound for the remainder of this year, but we are certain he will be able to help us out there.”