PHOTOS: Segerstrom rallies and notches opening CIF playoff victory over Mary Star

Segerstrom players celebrate after Thursday’s CIF playoff victory. (Photos: OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt).

Segerstrom High School’s baseball team answered the challenge in the fifth inning Thursday in the opening round of the CIF Division 4 playoffs against Mary Star of the Sea at Segerstrom.

After falling behind 4-2 in the top of the inning, the Jaguars responded with five runs in the bottom of the inning to take a three-run lead and went on to defeat Mary Star of the Sea 7-5.

Segerstrom (17-12-1) moves on to the second round Tuesday against Santiago Corona at Corona.

“Especially when we face pitchers who keep throwing off-speed stuff trying to keep us off balance, we preach with these guys to stay with the ball and drive the ball the other way and we did that in that inning,” said Segerstrom Coach Erasmo Ramirez. “The first few innings, we didn’t do a good job with that. We drove with the ball and stayed with the pitch and made things happen.

“I told my guys, ‘we fell behind and you guys showed some grit and we came back’ and in order to make a run in the playoffs you have to be able to come back from behind and we did a good job of doing that today.”

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Adrian Villegas and Reggie Demetre had RBI singles and Bruno Banuelos drove home a run with a double for Segerstrom in the fifth. One run scored on a wild pitch and another on an error.

“We were down and I just told my guys, ‘we can’t be quiet any more, we got to keep going and keep pushing’ and that’s what we did,” said Villegas, who led the offense going 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI. “We put five runs up that inning, so I think it just came down to the energy we had.”

Villegas said the Jaguars had confidence in their two pitchers, Bruno Banuelos and Zander Bretza.

“We can always rely on them to come in and throw zeros,” he said. “Bruno didn’t have his best stuff but he still battled. Zander came in and does what he does best, closes it out for us.”

Segerstrom led 2-0 after one inning when Demetre reached on an error to drive in two runs. Mary Star scored three runs in the third inning to move ahead 3-2, then extended its lead to 4-2 on a home run by Brody Cuellar in the fifth inning.

Banuelos (8-1) got the win, pitching the first five innings. He allowed four runs and four hits and struck out three. Bretza came on to pitch the sixth inning allowing a run and no hits to get his third save. He struck out two.

Bretza also reached base on a walk and hit batter and scored two runs.

Mary Star (15-10) was led offensively by Gerry Bucemi who was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored and Cuellar who was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com