University pitcher Cooper Berger and catcher Alex Zive celebrate a win after the final out. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Irvine and University baseball teams, with their ace pitchers on the mound, were locked in a scoreless tie through five innings of a Pacific Coast League game at University Tuesday afternoon.
Then, the bats came alive for both teams in the sixth inning in the first of three consecutive games between two teams battling for a CIF playoff berth.
First, Irvine struck for two runs. But University (9-9-1, 4-7-1) responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning, two coming on a bases loaded RBI single by sophomore Cooper Berger, who was also the winning pitcher to notch a 3-2 victory.
Michael Dougherty had a sacrifice fly to put the Trojans ahead by one. Berger held off an Irvine threat in the top of the seventh. Nate Valencia walked and went to second on passed ball and then to third base. But Berger struck out the last two batters to get the win.
Berger (3-3) struck out 11 and allowed just five hits.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
“It was definitely a good team win,” said Berger. “It was nice having everyone behind me during my start, making me more comfortable on the mound. It was a great day by our offense off one of the better pitchers in our league to put some (runs) up and put me in position ….. where I can keep us in it.”
Berger was thrilled to get the bases loaded single too which tied the game.
“I got a fastball in and did what I could with it and put it in the right spot and everything worked out,” he said.
“It was an important win,” added Uni Coach Wesley Shaw. “Irvine is a good, scrappy ball club, they’re well coached, they play within themselves, they don’t try and do too much, they take advantage of opportunities which we haven’t been able to do but we came through today with the opportunities they presented us. It was a good high school baseball game.”
Shaw has been seeing efforts like Tuesday’s from Berger, who has suffered two close losses, all season.
“He’s 6-6 sophomore, I would like to have about six more of those guys,” he said. “Good thing is, I got him for two more years after this. He’s quite the commodity and there is a lot of interest in him from some well-known baseball schools.”
Irvine starter Joon Lee was in command through five innings before Uni got going. Lee struck out six and allowed three hits. He surrendered just one hit through five frames.
It was looking promising for Irvine (8-13-1, 6-8-1) in the sixth inning. Zach Rodriguez singled to lead off and went to third on a double by Nathan Sasaki. Sasaki scored on a groundout by Owen Featherston. With one out, Ian Hew belted a double to left center to drive in Sasaki to give the Vaqueros a 2-0 lead.
But in the bottom of the inning, Atticus Oh and Riven Ruhanage singled for Uni. Luke Weston reached on a fielder’s choice. Alex Zive walked to load the bases and Berger singled sharly to right field to tie the game. Then, Doughery hit a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 3-2.
“Both pitchers were great,” said Irvine Coach Gabriel Cota. “Their guy was great, our guy was equally as good, if not better. That’s high school baseball and that’s sometimes how it rolls sometimes. That’s what he’s (Lee) done all year, it was just kind of a bummer we couldn’t pick him up offensively. We weren’t able to finish it off. They’re a good team, they’re well coached and you got to tip your cap, they got it done at the end.”
The teams play again Wednesday at Irvine and Thursday at University. Irvine is in sixth place and University in seventh.
Woodbridge, Northwood and Beckman are in the top three spots in the league. But four other teams, who all have under .500 league records, are looking to secure one of the four automatic playoff berths. Teams who finish .500 overall are also eligible for at-large berths.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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