Orange earns berth in CIF playoffs, knocking Santa Ana out of automatic berth with 4-3 win

Orange seniors celebrate with a dog-pile after the senior ceremony following a 4-3 victory over Santa Ana (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Shortly after his Orange High baseball squad defeated Santa Ana 4-3 in a critical Orange Coast League game Wednesday, first-year Panthers coach George Chace tried to put the victory in words.

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Overcome by emotion because of the significance of the team’s accomplishment, he held back tears as he talked about the victory, which he found out minutes later sent his team to the CIF playoffs as the No. 2 team from the league.

“These guys just grind it out, they never give up,” Chace said.

Then, he regrouped for a few moments and continued:

“I took this job, it was my first year and nobody gave us a chance from the get-go. These guys, nobody believes in them and they struggle to believe in themselves. And from what I saw when I came in was a bunch of potential with the field, the facility with the boys and their athletic ability.

“I just wanted to get to work and they’ve really grinded this entire year and I’m super proud of them. Our record is 13-14 now and it’s been a roller coaster year the entire year and its been a constant battle trying to switch their mindset from not thinking that they’re good enough to telling them to believe in themselves. It’s a tribute to all of them for their hard work and dedication and not giving in.”

The Panthers’ starting pitcher Jonathan Long went the distance and also had an RBI single and was walked twice. Jason Miranda provided the big blow, a two run double in the fourth. Isaiah Adetoye also had a sacrifice fly in the inning.

Long scattered seven hits and struck out 10.

“He might be the best player in Southern California,” Chace said of Long. “He’s batting probably .600 on the year now, his ERA is crazy low, like point three or something like that. He’s been relieving for us because he had arm issues at the beginning of the year because we used him too much, too fast. He has three or four saves. He leads the county in hits and RBI. He has meant everything to this team.”

It was a rough final league game for Santa Ana.

The Saints came into the game tied with Estancia for first place and aiming to win and share the league title with Estancia, which defeated Saddleback 18-1 to capture the outright crown with a 10-5 mark. Orange, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana finished tied for second place with 9-6 records.

But Orange clinched second place by virtue of two wins over Costa Mesa and Santa Ana and Costa Mesa takes third place by virtue of a head to head tiebreaker over Santa Ana, according to a release from Estancia Athletic Director Nate Goellrich. Calvary Chapel finished 8-17 and Saddleback 0-15.

“We had a lot of opportunities and they had a good guy on the mound,” said Santa Ana Coach David Silva. “We just didn’t capitalize and that’s baseball.”

Silva, right after the game, had not heard the Saints playoff fate. The playoff The Saints (14-10 overall) could still earn an at-large berth for the CIF playoffs. They have one more regular season game Friday night at 6 at Angel Stadium against Long Beach Poly.

Santa Ana didn’t go down without a fight. After falling behind 4-1 the Saints scored two runs in the fifth inning. Josue Sanchez scored on a wild pitch and Kevin Gomez drove in another run on a single.

But Long (3-1) was able to work out of trouble.

He also got out a jam in the sixth inning. Santa Ana had runners on second and third. Vincent Tinajero singled and Drew Ramirez reached on an error and stole second. A sacrifice bunt by Kaleb Jimenez moved Tinajero over.

But Long struck out Julian Gomez and got Garrett Gonzales to fly out. He then retired the Saints in order in the seventh.

“I felt my fastball was better,” Long said. “My off-speed pitches I was kind of leaving them up in the zone a little bit. They were hitting those a little bit. But my fastball, I kept that down in the zone and I felt that’s what got me most of the outs today.”

Gomez led Santa Ana going 2 for 4 with an RBI single in the third inning.

Josue Sanchez started on the mound for Santa Ana before being replaced by Vincent Tinajero in the fourth.

RELATED: Estancia captures outright league title

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportzone.com