LAKE FOREST – During the nonleague season, there had been little separating the performance of two South Coast League rivals.
El Toro and Tesoro saw their teams advance to tournament finals, giving them reason to be confident coming into Tuesday’s league tilt.
The ninth-ranked Titans blew out the No. 4 Chargers, 11-0, on Tuesday to gain some much-wanted separation from their foe in the standings with their win at El Toro High.
Spencer Heinsius went 3 for 4 with a pair of run-scoring doubles. Cole Donnelly and Brett Auerbach had three hits each, and Jordan Martini (4-0) pitched six shutout innings for the win.
Tesoro coach Rick Brail knows his team resides in one of the county’s deeper leagues. He recognized the importance of a league win on the road, especially ahead of a two-game series with Dana Hills next week.
“We’re thrilled to be able to come over here and put together a good game,” Brail said. “We know that next week and every league game is going to be really tough.”
Tesoro (10-4, 3-1) is tied with Aliso Niguel and Dana Hills for first in league.
The Titans and Chargers (11-5, 1-2) missed the playoffs in 2015. The South Coast League pack was bunched together, however, with the first- and last-place teams finishing within two games of each other.
Tuesday’s starters entered the game with a combined 7-0 record. The Titans never gave Chargers pitcher Bradley Spooner (4-1) a chance to settle in. The first four batters reached against the right-hander. Jake Loy started with a double, and Tyler King capped the four-run inning with a two-RBI-single.
Four straight Titans reached again in the fourth, and run-scoring hits by Donnelly and Brett Long knocked Spooner out of the game.
“We’re coming together as a team,” Heinsius said. “I like our chemistry up the middle. Everything is going good right now.”
Kenny Oyama, Carsen Negrete, Matt Kincade and Gavin Garcia collected hits for El Toro.
