Late rally lifts Woodbridge past crosstown rival Beckman in non-league battle

Vincent DeMarco (left) and Vaughn Tase led Woodbridge to a win Wednesday. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Woodbridge’s baseball team pushed across two runs in the top of the seventh inning and defeated crosstown rival Beckman 4-3 in a non-league game Wednesday afternoon at Beckman.

The victory helped the Warriors (18-10) earn a split of the season series against their former Pacific Coast League rival. Beckman (17-10-1) won the first game 4-1 on March 16 at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.

Both teams are headed to the CIF playoffs, Woodbridge as the No. 1 team from the PCL and Beckman as the No. 2 squad from the Sea View League.

Wednesday’s outcome probably won’t change CIF playoff pairings, but it was still a competitive, hard-fought game, the last regular season contest for both teams.

Woodbridge enters the playoffs with a 10-game winning streak.

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Trailing 3-2 going into the seventh inning, Caleb Camacho reached on an error to lead off the inning. JJ Metcalf singled. Vincent DeMarco hit a deep fly to center field for an out, but Camacho was able to advance to third on the play.

Then, Camacho and Metcalf executed a double steal although it was supposed to be a squeeze play. Camacho scored and Metcalf wound up at second base.

With two outs, Vaughn Tase delivered a booming RBI double to right center field to drive in Metcalf with the eventual winning run. DeMarco, who came on to pitch in the sixth inning, then retired Beckman in order in the bottom of the inning.

“From the standpoint of confidence going into the playoffs, fighting back to beat a team like Beckman is a good thing,” said Woodbridge Coach Ryan Brucker. “You know you had to earn that win, they don’t beat themselves. I would have liked for us to play a little cleaner of a game.

“We need to clean some things up, we made a couple mental mistakes on the bases and from a defensive standpoint, I think we had two errors. You’re never going to be perfect but you want to make sure you play errorlesss baseball or as close to it as you can.

“But at the end of the day, for the kids to battle back in a game that was a tough battle and find a way to score two runs in the seventh to win that wins means a lot to us.”

Tase celebrated the double as he roared into second base with his grand-father Guy Lemmon cheering for him in the stands with pride.

“I got put in a really good situation to have a guy in scoring position and I ended up coming through, I saw a pitch I liked and the guy on second scored,” Tase said. “It was definitely up there, I’ve had a couple game tying hits … it was one of the biggest ones especially against a crosstown rival.

“It’s a big victory, crosstown rival that used to be in our league. It always feels good to beat Beckman at least one time. They beat us earlier in the season. The boys are rolling, the team is hot …. and we have good energy rolling into the playoffs.”

DeMarco, besides finishing strong on the mound, had an infield single in the fifth inning to drive in Kyle Underwood who doubled, to tie the game 2-2.

He also had an RBI single in the first inning to drive in Metcalf who tripled with one out.

“It was a real team victory, we put up one in the first, it was great, started the momentum off, they fought back, they’re always a great opponent and always fun to play against, especially when you know a lot of the boys on the other team,” DeMarco said. “We kind of got bailed out a little bit, we also bailed them out a little bit.

“I’m really proud of the way the boys played and we just got to keep this going through CIF. Hopefully we’re in a winnable division and go make a run.”

After falling behind 1-0 after one inning, Beckman scored two runs in the second inning. Anton Le and Cooper Erickson singled off Woodbridge starter Brady Beals. Sean Franco had an RBI single and Kai Carney delivered a sacrifice fly to put the Patriots ahead 2-1.

After Woodbridge tied the game in the fifth inning Beckman moved ahead 3-2 with a run in the bottom of the inning. Jaxson Gomez and Kavin Patel had singles and Gomez came home to score on a wild pitch following a strikeout.

Underwood came in to pitch for Woodbridge in the fourth inning and Caden Camacho in the fifth inning before DeMarco closed out the win.

Nathan Han started on the mound for Beckman and was relieved by Knox Gonzalez in the third inning. Gonzalez, who had pitched in only one other game for just one inning this year, kept his team close with outstanding pitching.

“That kid who pitched for us is probably the best teammate we have on our whole team,” said Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle. “I’m really disappointed that we didn’t get a win for him. He’s just a kid who puts in the work, great teammate, kind of planned it that way so we could try and get him a win because he deserved it.

“It’s disappointing we didn’t play well in the seventh inning. Today was one of those games where it’s kind of a weird game to play because it doesn’t really mean anything in the end. I know we rested some guys and they rested some guys, it’s not so much about rest, 17-year-olds don’t need a lot of rest, it’s more about rewarding the guys who have put in all the work and getting them on the field, you never kinow when you’re going to need somebody in the playoffs.”

Beckman held its own in Sea View League play finshing 6-6 in a tie for second place with San Juan Hills, giving Lavalle some hope for a solid post-season run.

“Just like everybody else in the Southern Section, if we play well, we got a chance to win, if we don’t the season is over,” he said. “That’s why you practice the year round in Southern California to do what we’re going to attempt to do next week.”

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com