THURSDAY BASEBALL: Laguna Hills, Woodbridge, Irvine, Crean Lutheran and Pacifica win

LAGUNA HILLS 6, BECKMAN 2: The Hawks earned a season split with Beckman and remained one game behind league-leading Woodbridge.

Scotty Kato pitched three innings allowing no earned runs and striking out six for Laguna Hills (11-3). Mike Burke pitched four innings and allowed two earned runs to finish the game.

Travis Williams was 2 for 3 with two RBI and Zach Ferranto was 2 for 3 with a two-run home run and three RBI for Laguna Hills.

“Scotty Kato did a great job for the first three innings and Mike Burke gave us four quality innings,” said Laguna Hills Coach Drew Hillman. “Both Travis Williams and Zach Ferranto gave us a huge spark in the first couple innings with their bats. Being able to pick up the win today and split the season series with Beckman keeps us in the hunt.”

Nick McLain had two hits and Pat Murrow two RBI for Beckman (10-4), which dropped into third place.

Laguna Hills meets Woodbridge in a two-game series next week Tuesday at home and Wednesday at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.

WOODBRIDGE 10, NORTHWOOD 2: League-leading Woodbridge (12-2) bounced back from Tuesday’s loss to Northwood with a victory at Northwood.

Sean McCance pitched the first four innings, allowing two hits and no earned runs while striking out six to get the win for Woodbridge. Luke De Vries had two hits, a triple, two RBI and a stolen base, Brandon Abernathy had two hits and two stolen bases, Jaden Hoang-Tieu had a double, two RBI and a stolen base and McCance had two RBI and four stolen bases. Nathan Perry also had two stolen bases.

PACIFICA 8, TUSTIN 1: The Mariners improved their Empire League record to 2-0. Pacifica had its best defensive game of the year with no errors on 14 groundballs. Aidan Collin pitched a completed game, allowing one earned run and striking out four. Chad Gurnea was 1 for 3 with a double.

IRVINE 8, UNIVERSITY 7: The Vaqueros evened their record at 7-7 with the victory. University (3-11) scored five runs in the seventh inning to send the game into extra innings. Irvine won with a run in the bottom of the eighth.

Irvine was led by Tate Zimmerman, who was 4 for 5 with two RBI, one run scored and a walk-off single to win it. Jeremiah Gedeon was 2 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored, Kade Zimmerman was 2 for 4 with two RBI, Patrick Hackworth was 2 for 3 with two RBI and JC Allen was 2 for 3 with a run scored.

Sawyer Spivey pitched the first six innings for Irvine, allowing two earned runs and striking out five. JC Allen, in relief, got the win striking out one.

“It was a good high school baseball game,” said Irvine Coach Gabriel Cota. “Tons of credit to Uni for battling all the way back with five runs in the seventh. Coach (Steve) Hindman is doing a great job over there building his culture.” 

CREAN LUTHERAN 11, VALENCIA 3: The Saints improved their Empire League record to 2-0 with a win at home. Michael Panichi pitched the first five innings allowing three hits and striking out five to get the win and also went 2 for 3 at the plate with a double. Min Sung Choo was 3 for 4 with a double and three RBI and George Manera was 1 for 2 with a double and an RBI.

Crean Lutheran (13-5 overall) outhit Valencia 10-6.