Six of the previous Fountain Valley-Huntington Beach baseball games had been decided by one run.
So it figured that their game Wednesday would be dramatic.
Fountain Valley took an early lead, lost it midway through the game, then came back to beat Huntington Beach, 9-7, in their Sunset League game at Huntington Beach.
It is the Oilers’ first league loss and ended their 15-game winning streak. Fourth-ranked Fountain Valley (14-6) and top-ranked Huntington Beach (17-3) are tied for first place in the Sunset League at 8-1. They meet again Friday at Fountain Valley.
The teams combined for 19 hits.
Daniel Patzlaff hit a grand slam for the Barons. He also hit a single and a double. Dan Rosica drove in two runs for Fountain Valley.
Cooper Moore had three hits and Logan Pouelesen drove in two for the Oilers, who had 10 hits and no strikeouts. They left four runners in scoring position.
Patzlaff’s slam in the second inning gave the Barons a 5-0 lead.
The Oilers scored twice in the bottom of the second, then took a 7-5 lead with a five-run fourth inning in which Pouelesen and Marcus Mayorga had two-run doubles and Daniel Amaral drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.
Fountain Valley went ahead to stay with a three-run fifth inning. Junior Aguilar’s double knocked in one run and Rosica’s double sent home the other two runs. Dillon Persinger singled in a run in the sixth to make it 9-7.
Patzlaff‘s effort must have seemed like a replay for the Oilers. In two league games against them last year, Patzlaff hit four home runs with 8 RBI to lead the Barons to a pair of one-run wins.
He said Wednesday was typical Fountain Valley-Huntington Beach baseball.
“The last two or three years it’s been like this every time,” said Patzlaff, who signed with Oregon.
His previous grand slam?
“Probably when I was 12, something like that,” he said.
Fountain Valley coach Deric Yanagisawa said he would like more grand slams and a wider margin of victory Friday.
“Benji (Medure) and I joke around that we’re going to have heart attacks at the end of each season,” Yanagisawa said of the Huntington Beach coach. “It’s a dogfight every single time we play Huntington Beach.”
Huntington Beach’s 15-game winning streak included a 2-1 league win over Fountain Valley and four wins to capture the championship of last week’s Hard 9 National Classic. Fountain Valley was 2-2 in the National Classic.
Also in the Sunset League:
No. 8 Edison 5, Newport Harbor 1: Kevin Ando and Brian Schales drove in two runs apiece for the host Chargers (15-5, 6-2).
In the Golden West League:
Loara 14, Segerstrom 0: David Gistlinck drove in four runs for the first-place Saxons (13-7, 7-1).
In the Sea View League:
No. 7 San Clemente 6, San Juan Hills 0: Kolby Allard struck out nine over six innings and Dylan Riddle pitched a scoreless seventh as they teamed up for a two-hitter for the visiting Tritons (18-5, 5-2). It was San Clemente coach Dave Gellatly’s 300th career win.
In the South Coast League:
No. 6 Trabuco Hills 3, Tesoro 0: Cameron Aufderheide and Matt Majors combined for the shutout for the host Mustangs (17-4, 4-1).
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
