Beckman rallies to defeat Irvine 5-4 and Laguna Hills tops Northwood 6-0 in PCL games

BECKMAN 5, IRVINE 4 (8 innings): Beckman kept its hopes alive of winning a share of the Pacific Coast League title with a come-from behind win Monday on senior day at Irvine. Woodbridge clinched its first league title since 2016 with a 2-1 victory over Portola in nine innings Monday (please check here for a full report).

Beckman, the defending champion, needs to win games on Wednesday at Ryan Lemmon Stadium and Thursday at Beckman against Woodbridge to earn a share of the title. Woodbridge wins the title outright with one win.

AJ Roettger pitched six innings in relief to get the win for Beckman (17-5) allowing one run.

Irvine led 4-2 with two outs in the seventh but Zack McAlister’s double tied the game, scoring Cade McGuire and Diego Hernández, according to Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle.

In the top of the eighth inning, Ashton Kanegae singled with two outs and advanced to second base on a hit batter.

He then scored the eventual running run when Paul Murrow’s high fly ball to left field could not be caught and was ruled an error. Roettger retired the side in order in the eighth to seal the victory.

It was the final regular season game for Irvine, but Vaquero Coach Gabriel Cota believes that his team (12-12) will have an excellent chance of advancing to the CIF playoffs as an at-large team. The Pacific Coast League is a seven-team league and teams that have a .500 record are eligible to advance to the playoffs as a wild card team.

“Tough one on the scoreboard, but we talk all the time about the scoreboard not defining who we are,” Cota said. “I couldn’t be more proud of my guys. On senior day we were able to play every single senior. Sometimes the game doesn’t reward you, but we’ll learn from it and get better.” 

“Yes, we should be in (the playoffs). In a seven-team league you get four auto qualifiers. We’re not guaranteed, but hoping we get a shot. “

Irvine was led offensively by JC Allen who was 2 for 4 with a run scored; Bryan Wilhelm who was 2 for 4 with a run scored, Patrick Hackworth who was 2 for 4 and Nicholas Johnson, who was 1 for 1 with an RBI.

Irvine used five pitchers. Chris Jeong pitched one inning, allowing one earned run and striking out two. Brayden Elder pitched for one inning, allowing no hits. Sawyer Spivey pitched three innings, allowing on earned run, Allen pitched two innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out three and Taylor Skelley pitched one inning, allowing no earned runs.

LAGUNA HILLS 6, NORTHWOOD 0: The Hawks got a strong pitching effort from Scotty Kato, who pitched a complete game striking out seven. He was also 2 for 3 with a home run and two RBI. Tyler Eisenberg was 1 for 3 with an RBI.

“Kato pitched great for us again,” said Laguna Hills Coach Drew Hillman. “He gives us a great opportunity to win every time he goes out there.”

Laguna Hills (16-6) finishes the regular season with games against Portola Wednesday at home and Thursday at Portola.