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HUNTINGTON BEACH – With a playoff spot on the line, Edison’s baseball team got the outing it needed from starting pitcher Kaz Akamatsu.

He allowed only two base runners in the first six innings and finished with a four-hitter that included eight strikeouts as Edison beat visiting Los Alamitos, 6-2, on Tuesday to clinch the Sunset League’s third guaranteed playoff spot.

“It was a must win for us,” Edison coach Cameron Chinn said. “We wanted to take care of business and not let Thursday (at Los Alamitos) have an impact on our postseason fate.”

Edison (18-10, 8-6) clinched its playoff spot by establishing an early lead against the Griffins (13-14, 6-8).

In the second inning, Leo Hyodo hit a two-out RBI single to score Kevin Ando, giving Edison a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, Jake Scott extended the Chargers’ lead with a three-run home run into the trees beyond the left field fence.

“(Scott) worked that count to get to 3-0,” Chinn said. “It was the patience on some borderline pitches that got him to that. Then he didn’t miss.”

With the lead in hand, Akamatsu settled into a groove, retiring 14 consecutive batters and facing only one more than the minimum going into the seventh.

“I felt like everything was working today,” Akamatsu said. “I had a lot more strikeouts than usual and that was great.”

Los Alamitos’ two runs came in the seventh as Chris Concepcion led off with a homer and Scott Andersen collected an RBI single.