Eagles settle for second

COSTA MESA — Random phone calls and e-mail messages have been coming to Estancia High baseball coach Matt Sorensen.

Various people in the community have been wanting to commend the third-year coach on the positive vibes his program has been producing. A good amount of Estancia supporters — for a game during spring break, anyway — were present to see the Eagles relegated to a runner-up finish in the Beach Pit Classic, forced to focus on the positives, all the stuff short of a championship in the 16-team tournament.

Estancia (11-7), which won eight games last year, played in its first tournament title game under Sorensen, but they were outmatched against Beckman, which won, 11-5, Wednesday.

“I tried to stay positive with the guys,” said Sorensen, who was 15-37 in his first two seasons at Estancia. “We got beat by probably a better team. They have a superior team. We would have had to play our best baseball to beat them. To go 3-1 in this tournament and beat the teams we did is great. Second place is not bad and we’ll take it. It’s still a step forward from where we’ve been in the past. I try to dwell on that and just stay positive with them.”

The Patriots (15-1), ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Division III coaches’ poll, were up, 10-0, after three innings at bat. Of course it didn’t help that the Eagles were thin at pitching having used their top arms Marc DeFrenza on Monday and Ryan Boselo on Tuesday.

Beckman started with its ace, sophomore James Kapielian. Patriots Coach Kevin Lavalle was comfortable with a 10-1 lead and pulled him after three innings. He struck out four against the 10 batters he faced.

Andres Gonzalez was the only one to figure Kapielian out, drilling a home run over the right-field fence to lead off the third inning.

But the Patriots had already seemed to do just enough damage. Their six-run second inning, which featured a two-run home run by Justin Hazard, put them in command.

“This is the last game of the tournament and I think they were short on pitching,” said Lavelle, who guided the Patriots to the CIF Division III championship game last year. “But that’s not our fault. We did what we were supposed to do early in the game.”

Lavelle said returning to the CIF Division III title game is the unspoken goal for his team and that Beckman is concerned now with repeating as Pacific Coast League champion. Winning the Beach Pit Classic and providing playing time for substitutes helps, he said, and the opposing pitching is not significant.

“We can hit anybody,” Lavelle said. “It doesn’t really matter who they threw. Our guys can flat out hit. Sometimes velocity is better than the slower stuff. I know they have some good [pitchers]. I don’t think it really mattered. These guys don’t care. The harder the better.”

Sorensen was pleased with his Eagles’ run in the Beach Pit Classic, but he said Orange Coast League play was the bigger picture, as well as returning to the CIF playoffs for the first time since 1994.

A league title has always been Sorensen’s goal, since he became Estancia baseball’s seventh coach in 11 years three seasons ago.

He encouraged his players to never give up Wednesday, as it will only help when they return to league play April 20 at home against Costa Mesa. Estancia is tied for first in the OCL at 3-1 with Calvary Chapel.

The Eagles showed some life in the sixth inning, scoring three runs. Ryan Boselo, Tyler Rios, Josh Dominguez, Victor Trujillo and Matt Caryle each singled, with Rios, Trujillo and Carlyle providing an RBI each.

Pitchers Kannon Stone (3 1/3 innings), Trujillo (one inning) and Rios (one inning) helped calm the Patriots’ bats, as Beckman scored two runs in the final five innings.

Estancia plays host to Riverside Christian April 16 and will have its alumni game April 17 before returning to league play.

Canyon of Canyon Country defeated Cajon, 4-2, in the third-place game.

Beach Pit Classic

Final

Beckman 11, Estancia 5

SCORE BY INNINGS

Kaprielian, Ambrose (4), Padilla (5), Daurio (6), Rieser (7) and Hazard, Villa (6); Gonzalez, De La Peña (2), Stone (2), Trujillo (6), Rios (7) and Dominguez. W – Kaprielian. L – Gonzalez, 3-3. 2B – Cook (B) 2, Barring (B), Araki (B), Trinkwon (B), Rivera (B). 3B – Ludin (B). HR – Hazard (B); Gonzalez (E).