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San Juan Hills players and coaches meet after Wednesday’s win. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
San Juan Hils High School’s baseball held off a late threat by Irvine to capture a 5-4 victory Wednesday afternoon in the final game of the Ryan Lemmon Tournament for both teams at the Great Park.
Irvine had the tying run at third base in the top of the seventh. But Stallions pitcher Jake Shukur was able to work out of trouble and get the win for San Juan Hills (7-10).
Irvine (8-11-1) had a runner at third base with no outs but was unable to push in the tying run.
“It was a good finish to a long week,” said San Juan Hills Coach Bret Levier. “It’s been tough with all these rainy days and all these days off and trying to get geared up to play every day for four or five days has been a challenge but it was good to see our guys kind of overcome that and come away with a W today.”
Drew Nelson threw the first three innings for San Juan Hills (6-9). Dane Grant threw two innings and Shukur threw the last two to get the win.
Sorrell Rubin had two, two out-RBI for San Juan Hills.
“(They) were in back to back at bats for us, that was huge,” Levier said
Zach Doyle had a big RBI in the bottom of the sixth to give San Juan Hills the lead. Jackson McKay got an RBI for an insurance run.
“Irvine played really good,” LeVier said. “They swung the bats really well and they put the ball in play and put some pressure on us.”
Irvine Coach Gabriel Cota said that starting pitcher Adam Valencia was outstanding.
“Our starter who is a sophomore, Adam Valencia, did a great job,” said Cota. “He just competed against a really good San Juan Hills team. I thought we did a pretty good job, we kind of threw some at bats away. We brought in a pitcher late, they touched him up a little and got a couple runs. I want to give my guys credit. They battled back.
“They had a guy on third with less than two outs, we just couldn’t get it done at the end, but it’sa pleasure being out here. I told the boys, ‘you’re lucky, you get to play baseball.’”
Nathan Sasaki was 3 for 3 with a walk, Sullivan Spivey had a double and Owen Featherston had a triple to drive in a run.
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—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
