Woodbridge wins a pitcher’s duel with Uni, remains tied for first place in PCL

Woodbridge celebrates PCl victory over University Friday. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Woodbridge’s baseball team scored 17 runs Wednesday in a Pacific Coast League victory over University.

Friday afternoon at Ryan Lemmon Stadium, the Warriors just needed one run to take the two-game series, defeating the Trojans 1-0.

Woodbridge (10-10, 6-2) remains tied for first place with Irvine in the PCL. Irvine defeated Portola 12-7 Friday to complete a two-game sweep.

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Woodbridge and Uni were tied 0-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Caden Camacho reached on an error leading off. With one out, Henry Uhrik doubled off reliever Lucas Haun, who came in for starter Andrew Shean.

The Trojans intentionally walked Caleb Camacho to load the bases. With JJ Metcalf at the plate, Caden Camacho then came home on a wild pitch.

“That was huge, picking us up for not getting the bunt down,” Woodbrige Coach Ryan Brucker said of Uhrik’s double.

Shean, the ace of the Uni staff, kept his team close striking out eight and allowing four hits and one unearned run. Coach Jesse Anderson said he decided to take Shean out because he was close to his pitch count limit and was strting to tire.

“I give Shean just a lot of credit,” Brucker said. “That kid is a battler and pitched a great game. I thought our guys, for the most part, competed pretty well today against a good pitcher, it was a really good high school baseball game.

“Like I told the guys, if we want to be a championship team, we got to find a way to pull this one out. We did enough to do it today.”

Woodbridge starter Kyle Underwood pitched the first six innings, scattering four hits and striking out seven.

“Kyle has battled hard all year long,” Brucker said. “Unfortunately for whatever reason, we don’t give him a ton of run support when he’s on the mound.”

In the top of the seventh inning, Shean singled with one out, but Camacho struck out the next two batters.

University (6-9, 4-4) also had scoring chances in the second and sixth innings but couldn’t get the big hit when needed. The Trojans hit the ball hard, but stranded seven runners.

“He pitched his heart out, he pitched a heck of a game,” Anderson said of his starting pitcher. “We squared up the ball a lot more than they did, but it’s baseball, it went right to them, every ball we hit went straight to them, but that’s baseball.

“It was a fun game to be a part of and watch. That’s the kind of game I like to be a part of. Those kind of games can go either way. That’s what makes this game so great. Both pitchers pitched their hearts out, it was a pitching battle. Love to see guys succeeding on both teams but bummed out we couldn’t be on the winning side of this thing.”

Woodbridge had serious scoring chances in the first, third and fifth innings but Shean was able to work out of jams.

The Warriors poured onto the field to celebrate the win.

“It was a great win for us,” said Uhrik, who had the big double in the seventh. “The other pitcher on the team pitched really well putting up zeroes, we couldn’t really get anything through but we stuck to defense, pitched great and then we got in a situation where the leadoff guy got on, I know we couldn’t get the bunt down but then they took out that pitcher.

“And then the new guy came in. I went up there and was saying, ‘if he gives me a pitch, I’m going to not try to do too much with it,’ he gave me something I liked, I swung and good things happened and we were able to score a run there and take the win.”

Woodbridge won the opener of the series 17-4 at Uni.

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