Northwood tops first place Woodbridge and Beckman’s Lucas Welch hurls shutout; Irvine and Pacifica win

NORTHWOOD 6, WOODBRIDGE 5: Northwood (4-9) snapped the Warriors 10-game winning streak. Woodbridge (11-2) leads the Pacific Coast League over Beckman and Laguna Hills, who are tied for second.

Northwood got a strong pitching performance from junior Cal Euper, the son of acting Coach Doug Euper. Cal Euper went 4 1/3 innings allowing three hits and one earned run to earn the win. Henry Jia, who pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings, got the save for the Timberwolves.

Adam Harper went 4 for 4 and Darren Shorter went 2 for 3 to lead Northwood offensively.

“I’m so proud of my team,” Coach Euper said. “It was a rough start to the season but the boys have a lot fight in them and they competed well today. Woodbridge is a great team, class program with great players and coaches. We’re very happy we were able to come out on top today.”

Conner Tallakson was 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI, Ryan Kato was 2 for 4 with a double, run scored and an RBI; Jack Bunnell was 1 for 3 with a double and a run scored and Dylan Blakey was 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI to lead Woodbridge.

“Northwood played a really good game,” said Woodbridge Coach Ryan Brucker. “I give them a lot of credit, they executed early on offense and really put us back on our heels to take an early lead, and their starter pitches well. They deserved to win today. That being said I’m extremely proud of our guys and the way they fought back today.

“They didn’t cash it in when we went down four runs. They kept competing and that’s all you can ask them to do. We fought back and had our opportunities. We had some good at bats in key situations where (we) hit balls right on the nose, we just didn’t find the gaps today. That’s how it goes sometimes, that’s baseball. We’ll get back out on the field and work hard at practice tomorrow. This group will be ready to go Thursday.”

BECKMAN 2, LAGUNA HILLS 0: The Patriots got a strong pitching effort from Lucas Welch, who pitched a complete game, allowing just three hits and striking out seven to help Beckman move to within a game of league-leading Woodbridge.

“Lucas Welch was the difference,” said Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle. “When you can command all your pitches in and out of the strike zone, you’re going to be tough to beat. That’s what he did today. Billy Schellenberg, the Laguna Hills pitcher, was really good today as well, but we were able to get his pitch count up early. Paul Murrow doubled in Jacob Zamosky and Ashton Kanegae then singled to score Murrow, and that was all it took.”

Schellenberg pitched the first four innings for Laguna Hills (10-3) before being relieved by Jordan Volk.

IRVINE 12, UNIVERSITY 4: “Today was a very good offensive day for us,” said Irvine Coach Gabriel Cota. “We have been working on our approach and it paid off against a pitcher who shut us down last time we faced him. We are trying to build momentum to have a strong finish to the year.”

Irvine (6-7) was led offensively by Patrick Hackworth, who was 2 for 4 with four RBI and a home run; Chandler Hazlett, who was 2 for 4, with three RBI and a double and Tate Zimmerman, who was 2 for 3 with three runs scored. 

Taylor Skelley pitched for three innings giving up one hit and allowing three runs for Irvine. Caden Shaffer threw three innings and did not allow a hit or a run and Chris Jeong pitched one scoreless inning, striking out one.

PACIFICA 4, TUSTIN 2: In the Empire League opener, the Mariners (9-8, 1-0) got a strong pitching performance from Andrew Stanley, who pitched a complete game allowing two earned runs and five hits while striking out seven. Nick Zanaboni was 1 for 3 with two RBI, a walk and the game-winning hit. Justin Aguinaga was 1 for 2 with a run scored, Logan Groff was 1 for 3 with a double, run scored and a walk and Johnny Morales had two sacrifices and an RBI.