Aliso Niguel opens up season with victory over La Habra at Loara Tournament

Aliso Niguel was led by (from left) Carson Etnire, Chad Alderman, Hayden James and Andrew Watson in the win over La Habra. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Aliso Niguel’s baseball team opened its season by rallying for six runs in the late innings and then got outstanding relief pitching to hold off La Habra 6-2 in a Loara Tournament game Tuesday afternoon at La Habra.

The Wolverines broke a scoreless tie by pushing across three runs in the top of the fifth inning. Carson Etnire belted a one-out, two-run single to put Aliso Niguel on the board.

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“I was a little nervous when I came to bat but I saw a big hole up the middle and that’s where I was trying to hit the ball,” said Etnire, who’s single to center scored Hayden James and Jason Orwat, who each singled with one out in the inning.

One out later, after Hudson Covington sacrificed Etnire to second, right fielder Andrew Watson doubled to left center, scoring Etnire and giving the Wolverines a 3-0 lead. 

La Habra (2-1) scored twice in the bottom of the fifth without the benefit of a hit to cut the lead to 3-2. However, the Wolverines rallied for three more runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by RBI singles by James and Etnire to up its lead to 6-2.  

La Habra loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth with no outs against reliever Owen Holtzer. Watson was brought in to relieve Holtzer and he promptly retired three consecutive batters on a short fly out to center, a strikeout, and then a ground out to shortstop to get out of the inning without the Highlanders scoring.

“I wasn’t nervous when I came in; I was confident,” said Watson. “I knew I had to throw strikes and that my defense had my back.”

Watson retired La Habra in order in the seventh to earn the save. Laguna Niguel starter, Chad, Alderman, a West Point commit, allowed no runs and two hits over the first four innings before giving way to Cole Neves who started the fifth inning.

Alderman pitched out of a bases loaded jam with one out in the first inning without giving up a run. He then pitched out of trouble in the third and fourth innings, stranding three runners in scoring position and keeping the Highlanders off the scoreboard. Alderman earned the win.  

“I was a little nervous as the game started; I threw a lot of pitches in the first inning, but I settled in after that,” said Alderman. “My fastball was working well and this was a big win for us. I know the dugout was hyped and we were ready to win this game.” 

“I was just happy and anxious to play after our first three games of the season were rained out,” said James, who had two hits, including an RBI single in the sixth inning for Aliso Niguel. 

Wolverines Coach Craig Hanson was pleased with the win.

“Watson did a great job in relief; it’s what he did all last season for us,” said Hanson, who is in his 21st year as head coach of the Wolverines. “I knew he wouldn’t be nervous in a game situation like that. We made some really good defensive plays today and we made a few mistakes as well. La Habra is a very solid team and this was a good win for us.”

La Habra Cach Jack Brooks said his team had its chances.

“I think we left something like 15 runners on base,” said Brooks. “We did a great job of putting runners in position to score but we didn’t come up with that big hit; we didn’t finish. We’ll figure it out; it’s on to the next game.”

Notes:

—-La Habra catcher/infielder Bobby Brooks, son of Highlanders coach Jack Brooks, has committed to play baseball at Sacramento State next season.

—-Aliso Niguel was rained out of its first three games of the season but Hanson said that the Wolverines have rescheduled each of the rain outs.

—-Each team participating in the Loara Tournament is guaranteed to play five games each.  

—-Hanson said four of his seniors have committed to play college baseball next season. Chad Alderman has committed to West Point, Owen Holtzer has committed to play at Cal Lutheran, Henry Drews has committed to play at Menlo College (Atherton, Calif.) and Hayden James has committed to play at Waldorf (Foster City, Iowa).