Trabuco Hills rallies in late innings for non-league victory over La Habra

Trabuco Hills was led by from left Josh Fitch, Daniel Van De Kreeke, Cy Ohwiler, Brady Meade and Skyler Sims Saturday. (PHOTO: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Trabuco Hills baseball team rallied for six runs over the last three innings to defeat La Habra 7-5 in a non-league game on a windy Saturday afternoon at La Habra.

The Mustangs win snaps their four-game losing streak, but Trabuco Hills (2-4) had to hold off a late charge by the Highlanders (5-3) to secure the win.

Daniel Van De Kreeke stroked two key hits and had three RBI in the late innings to lead the Mustangs. 

With the score tied 1-1, Trabuco Hills pushed across four runs in the top of the fifth inning, highlighted by a two-run double by Van De Kreeke and RBI hits from Cy Ohlwiler and Everett Schweer.   

“Baseball is humbling, but to get a big hit with two outs and two strikes on you was exciting and gave us momentum.,” said Van De Kreeke, who’s two-run double gave the Mustangs a 4-1 lead.

Schweer followed Van De Kreeke with an RBI single to up Trabuco Hills’ lead to 5-1 lead.  Earlier in the inning, Ohlwiler laid down a perfectly placed bunt for an RBI single, breaking the tie. 

However, the Highlanders did not go quietly.

Gavin Klein clouted his first career varsity homer run, a shot over the left field fence, to trim the lead after five innings to 5-2. Christian Avalos added an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning to up the Mustangs lead to 6-2. But once again, La Habra would counter and make the game more interesting in the bottom half of the inning.

With two runners on and one out, Highlanders Designated Hitter, Angelo Patino, blasted a 3-run homer over the left field fence off Mustangs reliever Josh Fitch to cut the lead to 6-5. Patino was greeted by his wildly-excited teammates at home plate as La Habra seems to regain the momentum.

“I just though it was a deep fly but the wind kept carrying it,” said Patino, who’s homer was his first of the season. “I had a 1-2 count and I hit a fastball.” 

Fitch shrugged it off and retired two next two hitters to end the inning.

“It’s a pressure situation, but you have to stay calm and just brush it off when things go bad,” said Fitch, who ended earning the save.

Ohlwiler doubled to lead off the top of the seventh for Trabuco Hills and scored on Van De Kreeke’s RBI single, increasing the lead to 7-5. The Mustangs then loaded the bases with two outs but La Habra reliever Bobby Brooks struck out Brady Meade to prevent any more runs from scoring. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Bobby Brooks singled with two outs off Fitch. He moved to second on catcher’s indifference. Bobby Fierro drew a base on balls.

Nico DeCorte then was called out on strikes on a controversial call. La Habra coach Jack Brooks questioned the home plate umpires’ call, resulting in the two umpires huddling to discuss the play. For several moments, both teams stood on the field anxiously awaiting the umpire’s decision. Finally, the home plate umpire signaled that DeCorte was out and the game was over. 

Mustangs coach Brent Lavoie was thrilled with the victory.

“I liked the way we got our bunts down, moved runners, got big hits and extended the lead,” said Lavoie. “It was a wacky-windy baseball game. They got the 3-run bomb and made it a one-run game. We made some good defensive plays and gave ourselves a chance to win.” 

Brooks said his team battled.

“The fifth inning got away from us; they put up a crooked number and that hurt us,” said Brooks. “We got good pitching from our starter (BJ Brooks) but our relievers didn’t have their best outings. The is a great bunch of kids to coach. They showed a lot of characters to fight back.”

Coming back and making his first start of the season after an elbow injury that kept him sidelined for 13 months, Mustangs pitcher Skyler Sims looked good.

“It’s my first start in 13 months and I felt good,” said Sims, who pitched 4.2 innings and gave up three hits and two runs. “I threw mostly fastballs but it felt really good to be back out there.” 

Ohlwiler, Tyler Hill, Van De Kreeke, Meade, and Amedeo Miller each had two hits for the Mustangs. Patino had two hits and three RBI for the Highlanders

Notes:

—Trabuco Hills coach Brent Lavoie said, “It felt like a homecoming today for me. I used to live in La Habra and taught at nearby La Mirada High and Jack Brooks and I are friends.”

—-La Habra second baseman, Gavin Klein, on hitting his first high school home run. “I didn’t think it was over the fence at first,” said Klein who jumped high in the air with excitement as he approached second base after realizing the ball was a home run. “It started our comeback and I was really happy.” 

—-The starting La Habra battery was BJ Brooks pitching and his brother Bobby Brooks as the catcher.

—-In his previous start against Banning, BJ Brooks faced a minimum 21 hitters in the game while throwing a 3-0 shoutout. The Highlanders recorded four double plays behind Brooks in the game. Patrick Castaneda also threw a shutout for the Highlanders in his last start, a 2-0 win over St. Paul. 

—The Mustangs won the South Coast League title last season in Lavoie’s first season as their coach.

—Tyler Hill, Trabuco Hills starting catcher will attend Drury University, a Division 2 school, in Springfield, Missouri – Lavoie’s hometown – next season on a baseball scholarship. Lavoie also said that he expects Mustangs shortstop Daniel Van De Kreeke to get a lot of Division 1 attention this spring.