Central Scores Four in Second, Defeats Irvine

Central High School scored once in the first inning, then broke the game open with four runs in the second and defeated Irvine, 6-1, in a Southern Section 3-A second-round playoff game Tuesday at Irvine.

Two Central pitchers, starter David Rice (6-2) and reliever Craig Lyons, held Irvine (18-9) to four hits. Rice pitched 5 innings, and Lyons worked the final 1 for the save.

Irvine starter John Bretza was tagged with the loss after he allowed 4 runs on 5 hits in 1 innings.

Central (19-4) took the lead in the first inning when Gino Martin led off with a single and later scored on a single by Pedro Carranza. Carranza was 2 for 3 with 2 runs batted in.

In the second inning, Central pushed across four more runs, two of them unearned, to move ahead, 5-0.

An RBI double by David Garcia accounted for the first run and chased Bretza. He was replaced by Jim Huntsberger with runners on second and third. Huntsberger got Chris Acosta to ground out, and the runners held for the first out.

Martin then loaded the bases with a walk but got Ismael Sanchez to strike out for the second out. Carranza singled to drive in a run and give Central a 3-0 lead.

Mickey McShan then reached base on a fielding error by shortstop Marlon Bringas, which allowed two more runs to score.

Central scored its final run in the top of the sixth on a triple by Acosta and a single by Martin.

Irvine scored in the sixth on singles by Bringas and Randy Martin, which put runners at first and third, and an RBI ground out by Mike Nau.