Baseball: Eagles on a winning streak

Tony Altobelli

LAGUNA BEACH - The echoes of legendary relief pitcher Tug McGraw

could be heard from the visitors’ side of Laguna Beach High as the

Estancia High baseball team took another step toward the rest of the

Pacific Coast League pack with a 9-4 win over the Artists.

“I told the kids that you gotta believe,” Coach Doug Deats said after the

Eagles won their second straight league game for the first time in recent

memory. “We’re not as good as the top teams in our league, but we can

compete and hang tough with our league and if you have the belief that

you can get it done, who knows what can happen.”

It was an all-around flawless day for the Eagles (6-8, 2-5 in league).

They pounded out 15 hits, committed zero errors, scored seven of their

nine runs with two outs and got a complete-game pitching performance from

junior Armando Ortiz.

“The only thing we did wrong was we missed a bunch of signs, for some

reason,” Deats said. “I was very happy with our effort today. Offense,

defense, pitching; the guys did all right out there.”

Ortiz allowed only six hits, while striking out nine and walking only

two. He retired 14 of the final 16 batters to shut down the Artists (4-9,

3-4).

“He pitched a heck of a game for us today,” Deats said. “He’s had some

tough luck in the past, but he throws strikes and he competes for us.”

The Eagles took control early by scoring six runs in the first inning,

all with two outs.

Brent Davis, Matt Mueller and Jordan Hart each came through with RBI

singles before J.B. Goff keyed the big inning. “We started off well and

that really got us going,” Deats said.

Laguna Beach started to chip away at the lead and got as close as, 7-4,

before Ortiz slammed the door.

In the fifth, Mueller took advantage of the wiffleball-like dimensions of

the Artists’ field and slammed a home run to right-center field,

extending the Eagles’ lead to 8-4.

Mueller scored again in the seventh on a fielder’s choice by Justin Lund.

Ortiz also helped himself out at the plate with three hits and a run

scored, while C.K. Green, Hart and Goff each had two hits apiece.

“We’re so fickle,” Deats said. “The only game that I was unhappy with was

the CdM game where I was disappointed with our effort. If we stay focused

and continue to not shoot ourselves in the foot, we can win.”

The Eagles will take on the Artists again on Thursday at 3 p.m. at home.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Estancia 9, Laguna Beach 4

Estancia 610 010 1 - 9 15 0

Laguna Beach 121 000 0 - 4 6 2

Ortiz and Davis; Dy-Buncio, Bieser (6) and Gagnet. W - Ortiz, 3-4; L -

Dy-Buncio. 2B - Goff (E), Youngstead (LB), Schissler (LB). HR - Mueller

(E), Gagnet (LB).