Pacific Coast League wrap-up: Laguna Hills opens schedule with two victories

It was a busy opening weekend for Pacific Coast League baseball teams, who began their 24-game league only schedules.

Laguna Hills, the newest member to the league, opened with a 6-2 victory Friday over Beckman at Beckman.

Scotty Kato started on the mound for Coach Drew Hillman’s team and in five innings, allowed two earned runs and struck out six to get the win. He was also 2 for 3 with three runs scored.

Mike Burke pitched two innings and did not allow a run. He allowed one hit.

Travis Williams was 3-for-3 with a two-run home run in the first, an RBI double, two runs scored and four RBI.

Then on Saturday, Laguna Hills defeated Woodbridge 3-2. Billy Schellenberg pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs and struck out four for the Hawks.

Jordan Volk pitched two innings, striking out two to get the win.

Wes Chavez led the offense, going 1-for-3 with the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning.

HIGHLIGHTS:

—-Beckman, the defending PCL champion, bounced back from the loss to Laguna Hills by defeating University 16-5 on Saturday. University opened Friday with a 6-0 victory over Irvine.

Zach Ireland recorded his first varsity win for Beckman, allowing one hit over three innings and striking out three, according to Patriots Coach Kevin Lavalle. Nick McLain was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and a home run. Blake Dimos and Zack McAlister also had multiple hits for the Patriots.

––Irvine bounced back from the loss to University by defeating Portola 6-5 on Saturday.

JC Allen started and threw 4 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and gave up three hits for Irvine, according to Irvine Coach Gabriel Cota. Chandler Hazlett came on in relief and threw 1 1/3 innings to get the win. Taylor Skelley got the save with one strikeout as well.

Allen led the way on offense going 2 for 4 with double and a run scored. Jordan Raymond reached safely three times with three walks, and had a run scored, Cota added.

—-Woodbridge, coached by Ryan Brucker, split its first two games, defeating Woodbridge 20-1 Friday at Northwood and losing to Laguna Hills 3-2 Saturday.

In the game against Northwood, the Warriors had 23 hits.

Connor Tallakson was 4 for 4 with a double, two runs scored and four RBI; Sean McCance was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and four RBI; Jaden Hoang-Tieu was 2 for 3 with a double and three runs scored.

Jack Bunnell earned the win, allowing two hits and striking out four in four innings.

Against Laguna Hills, McCance was 1 for 3 with a home run and a run scored and Brandon Abernathy was 2 for 3 with a run scored.

Dylan Blakey was solid on the mound for the Warriors, allowing no runs in four innings. He also struck out four.

“It was a good start to the season getting a win on the road,” Brucker said. “Our hitters came out in the game and attacked the baseball, Connor Tallakson had a great day for us as did Sean McCance. Jack Bunnell gave us a very strong performance on the mound on Thursday, and all of our pitchers did a good job competing, throwing strikes to close the game out. 

“On Saturday, Dylan Blakey gave us an extremely strong start and put us in a position to win the ballgame. We let the game get away from us in the bottom half of the sixth inning, but credit Laguna Hills for competing and coming back.  Always tough to play on the road in the PCL, but I was proud of the resiliency we showed in the top of the seventh to fight back and have a chance to tie or win the game.

“It didn’t work out for us Saturday, but the competitiveness is something you like to see early on in the season. We will look to have a good week of practice and build off our experiences in these first two games.”

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