Woodbridge bounces back with two straight wins; Orange advances to tourney title game

After dropping its first two games, Woodbridge High’s baseball team has responded with two straight wins at the Newport Elks Tournament.

On Monday night, Woodbridge defeated Katella 5-3.

Sophomore Dylan Blakey got his first career varsity start and went 3 1/3 innings giving up one hit and striking out seven.

Ian Hardy came on in relief and pitched two scoreless innings to pick up the victory. Max Montplaisir worked the seventh inning and earned the save.

Offensively Woodbridge was led by by Jakob Trestik who had two hits and an RBI, along with Luke De Vries who had two hits and Matt Spear who had a big two-run single that put the Warriors ahead.

On Wednesday night Woodbridge traveled to Blair Field in Long Beach to take on Long Beach Poly and captured a 10-0 victory.

“Jack Bunnell was the player of the game for us pacing us on the mound and leading us offensively at the plate,” said Coach Ryan Brucker. “On the mound three pitchers combined to shut out the Jackrabbits.  Bunnell threw four innings surrendering only one hit giving up zero runs and striking out eight Poly hitters.

“Lacshan Ramanathan came in and threw two scoreless innings, giving way to Mekhi Wright who pitched a scoreless seventh to preserve the shutout.”

Woodbridge had 12 hits. Matt Spear had three hits, a double and two RBI and Bunnell had two hits, a double, triple and three RBI.

Jaden Hoang-Tieu had two hits, a triple and an RBI and Danny Vasquez had two hits and an RBI.

“I am extremely proud of the way our players have bounced back after losing the first two games of the season,” Brucker said. “It would have been easy for them to go in the tank and not compete but they kept their heads up and have battled early on which is a good sign for us and will make us better as we prepare for league play.

“Our pitching has been outstanding through four games and we have competed especially well at the plate in our last two games vs. Katella and Long Beach Poly. We are sitting at 2-2 on the season and we have three more games to go before league.

“The PCL is going to be a dogfight like it always is, and we need to continue to get better for league. I am pleased with the way we have been competing and we look forward to the opportunity to play a very good Cerritos team on Friday night at Ryan Lemmon.”   

Friday’s game starts at 6 p.m.

Orange 14, Eastside High School 5: With the victory, Orange advances into the championship game of the West Valley Tournament and will play Saturday at 1:30 p.m. vs. Rancho Mirage High School at West Valley High School.

The Panthers were led by Jonathon Long, who went 3 for 4 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI along with a walk. Long is now 6 for 9 with four doubles, two home runs and five RBI in the tournament, according to Coach George Chace.

He also thrown a complete game, allowing five hits, three runs and striking out nine. He also got the win Tuesday at La Sierra High School.