Huntington Beach baseball edges Edison 1-0 to clinch outright Surf League title
Players graduate and new contributors step in, but the Huntington Beach High baseball team has remained the class of the Surf League year after year.
That’s saying a lot, with three other quality programs like Edison, Fountain Valley and Los Alamitos in the mix, but the Oilers have managed to stay on top.
They certainly earned this year’s league crown in dramatic fashion on Friday.
Edison left the tying and potential game-winning run in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh inning. Huntington Beach senior closer Adyn Lucero induced a groundout and a pop out, ending the host Chargers’ scoring chance.
The Oilers survived with a 1-0 win, clinching the outright Surf League title with two league games remaining. It’s their sixth straight league championship, not counting the shortened 2020 campaign which had no league games due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s a great league,” Huntington Beach coach Benji Medure said. “I remember we won our first [title] in 2004 and it was somebody different every single year. The Sunset League has notoriously been a great league, so it’s been a good run, for sure. I’m pumped for our guys.”
The Oilers (12-4, 7-0 in league) go into next week’s USA Baseball National High School Invitational Tournament in North Carolina with momentum. They certainly got their pitching staff some work Friday against Edison (7-11, 0-5).
Medure said that senior left-handed ace Ben Jacobs was on a pitch count, because he’s going to be going on six days rest next week in the tournament instead of his normal seven. Jacobs threw four shutout innings Friday, improving to 4-1 this season. He allowed just one hit, walking two and striking out four.
“The wind was blowing straight out to center field, so it was kind of hard to adjust to that, but I made my pitches and tried to keep my walk count down,” Jacobs said. “I just went out there and had fun. My goal was four innings, and I got it done.”
Hunter Drake, Ian Van Holt, Nico Hagadorn and Wyatt Thomas also took turns on the mound for the visitors. Edison got back-to-back walks from Nathan Lockwood and Josh Nowlin with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Lucero came in for the save and slammed the door.
Huntington Beach, ranked No. 8 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, scored the game’s only run in the top of the third inning. Leadoff hitter Aidan Espinoza launched a one-out single to right, stole second and came home on Ralph Velazquez’s hit into right field. The shot got past the Edison first baseman, rising just above his glove.
Espinoza went two for four for the Oilers. Brian Trujillo and Tony Martinez each added doubles, but Edison senior right-handed starting pitcher Tucker Fountain was able to squelch Huntington Beach’s scoring chances.
Fountain threw 110 pitches in six innings, allowing four hits. He walked two and struck out eight.
“I’m so glad he’s graduating, because every time we’ve faced him he’s battled the hell out of us,” Medure said. “His changeup and his slider, we have a hell of a time with them. We had guys on base all day, we just couldn’t get the hit to score them, so I’m glad that we pulled that one out.”
Jack Kamalski was two for three for Edison, and Brandon Winokur added a single. The Chargers are still searching for their first league win but have played well. Huntington Beach won the teams’ three league meetings by a combined total of just four runs, including Wednesday’s 2-1 result in eight innings.
“They deserve more wins, that’s for sure,” Chargers first-year coach Nick Cappuccilli said. “We’ve got some work to do now [to earn a top-two spot in league and automatic CIF berth], but I’ve told them we’re not out of it, don’t count yourselves out of it. We’ve got to keep battling and we’ll be all right. At some point, it’s got to start going our way. I hope it’s soon, because we don’t have much time left.”
Huntington Beach opens play in North Carolina on Wednesday against McQuade Jesuit, a team from New York.
Espinoza said the team is very much looking forward to the trip.
“We’re going in there as one of the four California teams, and we’re just going to try to show them what we’ve got,” he said. “We’re going to prove why we’re there. I’d say we’re one of the best teams in Southern California, and we’re going to show them that. We’re going to put our mark on the map next week. It’s going to be fun.”
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