MISSION VIEJO – This has been a remarkable three-week stretch for Jake Spillane and his fellow pitchers on the Mission Viejo roster.
Spillane tossed the team’s third consecutive shutout, and the visiting Diablos defeated first-place Trabuco Hills, 5-0, on Friday in a Sea View League game at Trabuco Hills High.
It was the fifth consecutive league win for the Diablos (15-9, 5-3).
Trabuco Hills (12-12 overall, 6-4 in league) was trying to put some distance between it and the rest of the league, but Mission Viejo didn’t let that happen. San Juan Hills (5-3 in league) and San Clemente (4-3 in league) are also vying for the league lead.
“The prediction at the beginning of the season was that it was going to be a dogfight,” Trabuco Hills coach Michael Burns said of the league race. “And that’s exactly what it looks like it’s going to be.”
The Diablos have been almost unbeatable when Spillane has gone to the mound this month. He has not allowed a run in 27 of his last 28 innings pitched.
The sophomore showed excellent control while allowing Trabuco Hills to just three hits. He struck out four.
“I was feeling my offspeed,” Spillane said. “It was working really well. … I was just catching people offguard.”
Mission Viejo took control by scoring two runs in the first inning.
“We were swinging pretty good,” Mission Viejo coach Chris Ashbach said, “but we thought we could do some skill things. Bunt, hit-and-run, just do some things to put pressure on them.”
In the fourth inning, Matt Austin scored on a squeeze bunt by Aaron Casillas. Justin Evans advanced to third on a Trabuco Hills error and he scored on a ground ball double play for a 4-0 lead.
Joey Castelli reached base on an outfield error in the fifth and scored on another error, one of three Trabuco Hills errors in the inning, for a 5-0 lead. Trabuco Hills committed five errors in the game.
“Today felt like a flashback to the first month of the season,” said Burns. “We’re making all these mistakes. Mistakes that we’ve corrected. So that’s frustrating, disappointing.”
