BREA – Brea Olinda ended a challenging week on a high note Friday by beating visiting Trabuco Hills, 3-0, in a Newport Elks Tournament game that was halted halfway through the sixth inning because of rain.
Brea Olinda and Trabuco Hills both finished 2-3 in the tournament.
Brea Olinda coach Michael Baker was pleased with how his team played after it lost to Valencia, 8-0, on Thursday.
“Past couple days we haven’t played as spirited,” Baker said. “Today, we had a brief talk before the game about getting back to playing the game hard and having fun.”
Brea Olinda (4-3) did most of its damage in the second inning.
Connor Tousignant led the inning off with a single and moved to second when Christopher Farias was hit by a pitch. Chris Kern laid down a sacrifice bunt, but an errant throw by the catcher allowed Tousignant to score and moved Farias to third. Farias came home on a groundout by Tyler Becker.
In the third, Brea Olinda’s Christain Hall singled to lead off the inning and took second on an error by the center fielder. Malik Campbell laid down a bunt, which looked to be a sacrifice, but was placed perfectly between the third baseman and the pitcher and everyone was safe. Tousignant then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, allowing Hall to score and making it 3-0.
Trabuco Hills (2-3) threatened in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with no outs. However, a slow roller to pitcher Zachary Ryan was turned into a 1-2-3 double play, and Ryan struck out the next batter for the Mustangs.
Brea Olinda was able to put the ball in play and force Trabuco Hills to make mistakes. But the weather had nothing to do with it, according to Baker.
“You can’t practice for it,” he said. “It was raining just as hard for them as it was for us.”
