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Estancia lead-off hitter John Uchytil gets ready for a pitch Tuesday. The Santa Ana catcher is Victor De La Cruz. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Estancia High School’s baseball team got back on the winning track in Orange Coast League play Tuesday afternoon defeating Santa Ana 8-1 at Santa Ana.
The Eagles (10-2, 2-1) were coming off a 5-4 loss to Calvary Chapel on Friday, but responded with four runs in the first inning off Santa Ana starter Ian Ramirez to take a commanding lead.
Starting pitcher Miles Moyer (4-1) got the win, pitching the first five innings. Moyer allowed four hits and struck out five. Lincoln Silva and Spencer Johnson each threw a scoreless inning to finish the game.
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Estancia also turned two double plays.
“We did a great job of coming out early, we knew they were going to come out with good energy, having a good week last week and our week ended in a bad way on Friday so we were eager to just get back out and get some positive vibes going again and for us to get out to that early lead and let Moyer settle in and get us through five with the lead, that was a great thing for us,” said Estancia Coach Nate Goellrich.
Estancia was able to take advantage of seven walks and a hit batter.
“We did a great job of waiting for our pitch and playing to the strike zone we were given today,” Goellrich said. “I was proud of our guys for staying patient.”
Eagles’ leadoff hitter John Uchytil led the way going 3 for 4 with three runs scored and his first home run of the year and second of his varsity career over the right center field fence to cap off the game in the seventh inning against Santa Ana relief pitcher Noah Iglesias.
Uchytil led the game off with a single and scored on an RBI double by Jake Humphries, who later stole third and scored on an error. Riley Witte capped the inning with a two-run single to put Estancia up 4-0.
The Eagles were in command after that.
“We started off strong with our offense and Miles pitched a great game so it was an overall good team win,” Uchytil said. “It was great to get the team chemistry back up to hopefully sweep Santa Ana. It was a good way to end the game, I was happy to get a home run, hopefully there are more to come.”
Estancia added single runs in the second, third, fourth and seventh innings.
Humphries was 2 for 5 with two runs scored, an RBI and two doubles and Witte was 1 for 1 with two RBI and three walks. Andrew Mits also had an RBI single.
Santa Ana (6-3-1, 2-1) was off to a solid start under first year coach Louis Oakley. But it was a tough outing from the start Tuesday for the Saints, who won their first two league games last week vs. St. Margaret’s.
“It was unfortunate with the way we came out today,” Oakley said. “At the very beginning, it just didn’t seem like our mind was right. Yesterday’s practice wasn’t too intense so I think that kind of carried over a little bit. We will turn the page and move on to the next one.
“We were extremely confident with our boys going into this game. They were playing like a unit, like a team, like a family, we had made some really great positive strides from the beginning of the season. You know baseball, we got a lot of games left and an opportunity to bounce back on Friday, so we’re excited for it.”
The Saints broke the shutout in the fourth inning. Cristian Nieto doubled and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch. Nieto also had a double in the second inning. Nehemiah Jatib had two hits for Santa Ana.
The teams play again Friday at Estancia.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
