Calvary Chapel Eagles celebrate after winning the league title Tuesday. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
Trevor Boisvert pitched a complete game shut-out to lead Calvary Chapel’s baseball team to a 2-0 victory over Tustin to help the Eagles clinch the Golden West League title Tuesday afternoon at Tustin.
It marked the first time the Eagles have won a league title since 2021.
Boisvert struck out seven and only walked one batter batter throwing 107 pitches to lead Calvary Chapel (18-10, 10-2). The Eagles won two of three games against Tustin this season.
Both teams had already clinched CIF playoff berths.
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“It feels amazing to win the league title; I think it’s the first time in five years our school had done that,” said Boisvert, a senior right-hander, who has thrown four complete games this season.
“This win gives us momentum going into the CIF payoffs. I felt like I had good control of my fastball and curveball, but they jumped on my fastball in second inning and I had to make adjustments.”
Calvary Chapel Coach Robert Marshall said Boisvert has been outstanding all season.
“Trevor is our ace; we brought him up to varsity as a freshman and he’s been a bulldog ever since,” said Marshall. “He started off the season for us by pitching a 3-0 shutout over Summit, a Division 1 team, and today he finishes the regular season in the same fashion. He kept them off balance and we’re blessed to have him.”
Calvary Chapel catcher Ben Steele agreed with his coach with regards to Boisvert’s performance.
“He hit his spots today with his fastball, curveball, slider and changeup,” said Steele, who drew a bases loaded walk in the third inning to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. “He furnishes a lot of talent. He started out the season by pitching a shutout against Summit and he set the tone and raised the bar for us.”
The Eagles scored both runs in the the third inning and they did so without hitting the ball out of the infield until the final out was made.
Tustin (16-11, 8-4) committed a few miscues that proved to be costly in the inning.
Justin Busch led off the inning and reached base on a throwing error. Lleyton Cruz and Josh Anderson then followed and reached base on a ground ball and a bunt that should have resulted in outs. However, the Eagles loaded the bases with no outs.
Steele and Keith Jones worked back-to-back walks off Tustin started Adam Whyte, giving Calvary Chapel a 2-0. Lead. Whyte was able to work out the jam without allowing any more runs by retiring the next three batters.
Whyte threw a gem for Tustin but the Tillers offense was unable to come up with the big hits when they needed them. The senior left-hander gave up only three hits, struck out six and walked two batters.
“I felt like I didn’t have my best stuff today, but we’re be fine and we’ll move on from this loss,” said Whyte, who had two hits in the game. “We were motivated to win league, but we’ll put this behind us and get ready for the playoffs.”
The Tillers had multiple scoring importunities but came up short. In the second, fourth and fifth innings, Tustin had two runners on base each time but Boisvert was able to shut the Tillers down. Again in the seventh inning, Tustin brought the tying run to the plate but Boisvert was able to close the game out.
The Tillers best scoring opportuniy came in the second inning.
With one out, Josh Saltzer singled. Grant Menges followed a single, giving Tustin runners at first and second with one out. Dylan Benally then singled to center. On the play, Saltzer tried to score from second but was gunned down by center fielder Kaden Cox who threw a strike to Steele, who tagged Saltzer out on a close play at the plate.
“As soon as the ball was hit, I knew I had to get it and make the throw to home,” said Cox. “I saw the runner all the way and it was a big play in the game. This is a huge win for us and to win the league title gives us momentum going forward into the playoffs.”
“He’s worked on that play a lot and he has thrown out three or four runners this season,” said Marshall, referring to his center fielder, Cox.
Despite the loss, Tustin Coach Curtis Cassise said his team is looking forward to the playoffs.
“We couldn’t string together the hits when we needed them today,” said Cassise. “Adam pitched really well. He had a little hiccup in the third inning but he pitched himself out of it. We’ll use the rest of the week to practice and get back on track and we’ll be ready for the playoffs next week.”
Menges had a strong game at the plate for the Tillers with three hits, including a double in the fourth inning.
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