Northwood, Uni and Loara win; top-ranked Cypress suffers only its second loss

Northwood, shown after a win last week, notched a PCL victory Tuesday (File photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Northwood’s baseball team captured a 5-3 Pacific Coast League victory over Woodbridge Tuesday to remain in second place in the Pacific Coast League.

Jason Carrig was 2 for 4 with an RBI, Darren Shorter was 2 for 4 with an RBI, Trey Littlejohn was 1 for 3 with an RBI, Matt Lawrence was 2 for 3 with an RBI and Nick Demaio was 1 for 2 with an RBI for the Timberwolves.

Arthur Liu started for Northwood (5-6-1, 5-3) pitching the first five innings. allowing seven hits and striking out seven. Justin Bonnell came in to pitch 1 1/13 innings and notch the save. Marcus Jacobson also pitched 2/3 of an inning.

“It was an incredibly tense game,” said Northwood Coach Rob Stuart. “Arthur Liu competed well and Marcus Jacobson and Justin Bonnell made some big pitches in tough situations.

“They showed a lot of courage. Jason Carrig came up with some game saving defensive plays. There were some bad hops and seeing eye base hits but we once again made our own luck and put pressure on the defense.”

Woodbridge (7-8, 3-5) was led by Noah Reid, who had a double, run scored and two RBI. Jeffrey Quezada was 2 for 4 with an RBI and Jakob Trestik was 2 for 4.

“Today was a tough one for us,” said Woodbridge Coach Ryan Brucker. “We simply made too many mistakes on defense to expect to win. I was happy with the way our guys stuck with it and battled.

“Offensively, I think we had 10 or 11 hits so that was a positive. The opportunities continue to be there for us, we just have to find away to play at a high level more consistently and keep competing.”  

The teams play again Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.

University 9, Portola 1: In a Pacific Coast League game, Brad Hodges got the win for University (6-9, 3-5). The Trojans moved into a tie for fourth place with Woodbridge in the PCL.

Hodges pitched five innings, striking out seven and not allowing an earned run. Faraz Markazi finished on the mound with two scoreless innings for the Trojans.

“It was great to see our guys come out and be aggressive at the plate and have early success,” said University Coach Mike Thompson. “Brad set the tone early for us. And (Jacob) Carroll and (Nick) Wetzel had some huge early at bats.”

Carroll was 2 for 4 with an RBI, a double and a triple and Wetzel was 1 for 2 with a double, two RBI and three runs scored. Alex Qu was 1 for 2 with a double, RBI and two walks and Andrew Keys was 1 for 2 with a walk.

Portola fell to 4-10 overall and 1-7 in league play.

Loara 4, La Quinta 0: Pat Monroe threw a complete game, striking out 11 and allowing just one hit for the Saxons, who lead the Garden Grove League with an 8-0 record.

Mira Costa 6, Cypress 2: Cypress, top ranked in CIF Division 1, suffered just its second loss all season in the opening round of the Boras Classic at Mater Dei.

Mira Costa outhit Cypress 8-3 and the Centurions (13-2 overall) made two errors.