RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – Orange Lutheran overcame inclement weather and early offensive struggles to beat Santa Margarita, 2-1, in nine innings Tuesday in a Trinity League matchup at Santa Margarita High.
The Lancers trailed, 1-0, in the top of the seventh with one out when Isaac Martinez hit a home run over the right field fence to tie the score.
In the top of the ninth inning, TCU commit Tristan Hanoian reached second base on an error to lead off the inning. After a wild pitch advanced Hanoian to third, Cal State Fullerton commit Zachary Lew drove Hanoian in with a sacrifice fly for the eventual winning run.
“It (today) was just like every Trinity League game – it’s a dogfight,” Lancers coach Eric Borba said. “Isaac (Martinez) came up huge with that home run. We are finding ways to win right now even though we aren’t playing great baseball.”
Orange Lutheran (8-1, 2-0), ranked No. 2 in Orange County, has won the first two in its three-game series this week with the Eagles (4-7, 0-2). Orange Lutheran won Monday’s game, 4-2, and the teams will meet again Friday night at Hart Park.
Both starting pitchers were efficient Tuesday from the opening pitch and it was apparent that runs would be at a premium. Santa Margarita starter Justin Evans pitched 4.2 innings of shutout ball, and Lancers freshman Christian Rodriguez gave up just two hits and one run in his Trinity League debut.
“All you can ask out of your pitchers is to give the team a chance to win, and Christian (Rodriguez) did that,” Borba said. “Santa Margarita is a scrappy team and he kept competing and didn’t get frustrated that we weren’t getting runs for him.”
Josh Nicoloff for Santa Margarita and Zach Busalacchi for Orange Lutheran made long relief appearances. Nicoloff allowed one earned run and struck out three in 3.2 innings. Busalacchi was the winning pitcher, allowing zero runs in 3.1 innings.
In the bottom of the seventh with a runner on third, Busalacchi intentionally walked two consecutive hitters to load the bases with two outs. With the pressure on, he got the next hitter to ground out to end the inning.
“You could see the competitiveness in his (Busalacchi’s) eyes. He wanted the baseball and was fired up to be on the mound. He did exactly what he needed to do,” Borba said.
