A look at Orange County baseball:
• A tournament MVP was not selected for the Beach Pit Classic that was won by Beckman. Beckman coach Kevin Lavalle said it would have been difficult for him to select one nominee for the award. “It sounds like total coach-speak,” Lavalle said, “but right now there’s not much difference between our No. 3 hitter and our No. 9 hitter.”
• Pressed to make a nomination, Lavalle would have gone with Tyler Geurts, a sophomore third baseman who was 7 for 14 with two triples, two doubles, three RBI and six runs in four tournament games. Senior second baseman Chase Bartholomew and senior catcher Dallas Dey also were tournament stars for the Patriots.
• Daniel Amaral and Noah Davis were great for Huntington Beach last week as the Oilers won the Hard9 National Classic. Amaral was tournament MVP and Davis was named top pitcher, but Oilers coach Benji Medure said senior center fielder Dillon Millar was equally important. “Dillon basically saved us, making five ridiculous catches and throwing a guy out the plate in the Santa Margarita game,” Medure said.
• Yorba Linda senior catcher Robbie Espinosa was MVP of the Ryan Lemmon Tournament which Yorba Linda won. He was 3 for 3 with two RBI in a semifinals win over Valencia, then hit a three-run double in the championship game win over Trabuco Hills. Mustangs coach Matt Stine said other top contributors during the tournament included junior pitcher Sam Eggenburg and junior third baseman Carter Kimberly.
• Tesoro needs a win. The Titans have lost six of seven. And the upcoming schedule is not easy, with six of their final eight games against county top 10 teams: Capistrano Valley and Trabuco Hills in South Coast League games; and a nonleague doubleheader with San Clemente.
• The Edison Tournament that began in early March still is being played with games scattered over the next couple of weeks. Mission Viejo plays San Clemente on Saturday in a tournament game in which Mission Viejo coach Chris Ashbach plans to use players who don’t see much action in league games. “We’re throwing four pitchers,” he said, “starting a catcher who hasn’t played much, a third baseman who hasn’t played much, and just giving as many kids as we can a chance to get in there.”
• Top games this week: today, Canyon at Foothill and Northwood vs. Woodbridge at Windrow Park; Wednesday, Fountain Valley at Huntington Beach, Pacifica at Valencia, and Capistrano Valley at Aliso Niguel in a nonleague doubleheader; Friday, Servite at Santa Margarita and Trabuco Hills at Tesoro.
• Four weeks remain in the regular season. The playoffs begin May 20 with wild-card round games in divisions 2, 4 and 6. Wild-card round games are May 21 in divisions 1, 3, 5 and 7.
• The county baseball top 10 comes from a poll of five media members. In the polling, a team gets 10 points for a No. 1 vote, nine points for a No. 2 vote, eight points for a No. 3 vote, and so on, through one point for a No. 10 vote. Points accumulated are those numbers seen under “poll points” in the top 10.
• Huntington Beach was No. 1 on all five ballots this week. So Huntington Beach has 50 points in this week’s top 10.
• If the media poll was a top 25 and given the top 10 polling results, here is how this panelist would then vote for places 11-25: 11. Santa Margarita (9-7); 12. Canyon (11-5); 13. Servite (11-7); 14. Mission Viejo (13-7); 15. Foothill (11-7); 16. Esperanza (12-6); 17. Tesoro (14-8); 18. Sonora (12-6-1); 19. Valencia (17-3); 20. Pacifica (13-7); 21. Cypress (11-7); 22. Yorba Linda (10-12-1); 23. El Dorado (9-8); 24. Laguna Beach (16-2); 25. Woodbridge (10-5-1).
• The top two finishers in four-team leagues gain guaranteed entry into the playoffs. The top three teams in five- and six-team leagues get guaranteed playoff berths. The top four finishers in seven- and eight leagues get guaranteed playoff berths.
• All of a league’s playoff teams play in the same playoff division. Orange County leagues in Division 1 are Century, South Coast, Sunset and Trinity. County leagues in Division 2 are Empire, Pacific Coast and Sea View.
• County leagues in Division 3 are Garden Grove and Golden West. Division 4 has the Freeway, Orange; and Orange Coast leagues. County leagues in Division 6 are Academy and San Joaquin, and the Express League is in Division 7.
• Whittier Christian plays in the Olympic League, which is a Division 5 league.
• Championship games in divisions 1, 2 and 3 are June 6 at Dodger Stadium. Championship games in divisions 4, 5, 6 and 7 are June 7 at UC Riverside.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
