PHOTOS: Trabuco Hills finishes strong and tops Tustin 4-2 in Elks Tourney

Trabuco Hills Coach Michael Burns talks to his players after Wednesday’s game. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Trabuco Hills baseball team pushed across two runs in the top of the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie and went on to defeat Tustin 4-2 Wednesday afternoon in the Newport Elks Tournament at Tustin.

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The Mustangs (4-1) scored two runs in the first inning before Tustin (2-2-1) tied the game in the third inning with two runs.

“It was a roller coaster ride of emotions,” said Trabuco Hills Coach Michael Burns. “I guess good things happen when you throw strikes and play defense. Our defense kind of helped us out a little bit today and we got a couple hits when we needed the big hits.”

Catcher Marcus Weinzimer led the offensive attack going 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. He had an RBI single in the first inning and started the Mustangs’ rally in the sixth inning with a double.

“He had a great game,” Burns said. “Marcus is just a great kid who works his tail off and it’s finally starting to pay off for him. He’s done a great job hitting in the five hole.”

Drew Barrett also had an RBI in the first inning when he reached on a fielder’s choice. Caleb Oddo was 1 for 4 with a double for Trabuco Hills.

Trabuco Hills also got solid pitching from Jared Casebier, who struck out eight and gave up three hits in four innings; Aidan Armstrong, who struck out one and allowed a hit in two innings and Trevor Dougherty, who finished with two strikeouts in a scoreless inning. Armstrong was credited with the win.

“We take pride in having a pitching staff and we showed that today,” Burns said. “It shows off our pitching depth a little bit, which we thought was our strength at the beinning of the year.”

Tustin, which had eight hits, had a productive third inning. Jeremy Haugh singled and Charles (Tre) Chatman reached on a bunt single. Matt Olivares walked and Roger Vasquez singled to drive in two runs to tie the game.

The Tillers also had scoring chances in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but weren’t able to execute.

“I thought it was a good game, two good ball clubs, we made a few more mistakes than they did and they capitalized on a couple things we did early and we made a couple of mistakes late and they capitalized on that,” said Tustin Coach Charles Chatman.

“They’re a talented group of guys, they got some guys who can swing a little bit and they play good defense and they didn’t make very many mistakes, unfortunately I think we made a few too many. We missed a squeeze which was huge, it turned into a double play to end the inning and then we get a lead off man on and get hung out to dry and lose a scoring opportunity. We will learn from them.”

Parker Cadacio started on the mound for Tustin, pitching the first five innings before giving way to George Cervantes, who finished the game.

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

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