Orange County high school baseball highlights, final scores for Wednesday, April 15

NORTHWOOD 10, UNIVERSITY 9: In a back and forth game featuring five lead changes, Northwood prevailed at home on a walkoff single from winning relief pitcher Joseph Kim.

University opened the scoring on the second pitch of the game with senior shortstop Sean Maher homering over the left field fence.

Northwood (8-15, 3-6) countered with third baseman Ethan Tsou’s two-out, two strike, two-run single to right field. The Timberwolves made it 4-1 in the bottom of the second inning when center fielder Gavin Stokes tripled in a run and scored on an errant throw.

University went ahead 6-4 with five runs in the top of the fourth inning. First baseman Isaak Hsieh had an RBI single, leftfielder Brandon Millman had a two-run single and designated hitter Alex Dorfman drove in a run with a squeeze bunt.

Northwood cut the lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the fourth inning and University added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. Senior Luke Emrich smacked an RBI double to deep left and rightfielder Miles Petras added another run on a squeeze bunt.

Northwood cut the lead to 8-6 in the bottom of the fifth before going ahead 9-8 in the bottom of the sixth. With the bags loaded and one out shortstop Kai Tsuneshige lifted a sacrifice fly to center that was misplayed into bases clearing play.

The Trojans tied the score in the top of the seventh on a Petras single. With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, pinch hitter Garrett Laurent singled to left field and advanced to third base on an error leading to Kim’s walk off heroics.

Each team had 10 hits. The difference in the game was defense. University committed seven errors leading to nine unearned runs. University (6-10, 4-5) is still just a game out of fourth place. The teams meet again Friday afternoon at University.

—Courtesy Daryl Bogard, For OC Sports Zone

WOODBRIDGE 10, ST. MARGARET’S 1: Woodbridge (11-10, 7-2) moved into sole possession of first place in the league with the win. Alex Johnson had three hits including a bases loaded triple for the Warriors. VIncent DeMarco pitched six innings, striking out 14 to earn the win for Woodbridge, which had 10 hits and did have an error.

Sage Hill 1, Irvine 0

Laguna Beach 6, Portola 0

FREEWAY LEAGUE

PACIFICA 3, CANYON 2: Pacifica (12-7, 3-2) was led by Cade Tessier, who had four strikeouts in five innings. Jack Waeger was 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI, Karson Mau’u was 2 for 3 with an RBI and Robert Anoba 1 for 2 with two runs scored and an RBI.

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE

CYPRESS 4, EL DORADO 1: The league leading Centurions (16-5, 6-1) captured the second game of the series Wednesday. Ivan Ortiz was 1 for 2 with an RBI, Jae-Ho Park was 1 for 3 with a run scored, Ben Martinez was 1 for 3 with an RBI and Tyler Vladic scored a run and had two stolen bases. Landon Smith got the win with five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.