Tesoro wins slugfest with Capo Valley, 11-10

LAS FLORES – Tesoro held off a furious seventh-inning rally to edge Capistrano Valley, 11-10, Friday in a South Coast League showdown.

Though the Cougars (14-6, 4-2) posted four runs in the seventh and were threatening with two men on, Tesoro second baseman Brett Halasz killed the rally when he fielded a ground ball and turned a double play to end the game.

"It's never enough against Capo," Titans coach Rick Brail said. "Capo is a tremendous team and they're swinging the bats really well right now.

"We had just enough to get them today. We needed every one of those 11 (runs)."

Two days after giving up 14 runs in a loss to the Cougars, the Titans (9-11, 3-3) brought some offensive firepower of their own.

Down 4-0 in the fourth, the Titans scored five runs in both the fourth and the fifth innings to blow the game open. Then a timely single by Tanner Donnels knocked in the 11th run in the sixth. Donnels led the Titans with five RBIs and three hits.

"In this league, it's pretty much the way things go," Donnels said of the offensive outburst. "We made it interesting at the end, but we got the win, and that's all that matters."

Evan Cook (2-3) got the victory in relief for Tesoro.

Tesoro pulled within one game of Capistrano Valley in the South Coast League standings. Both teams trail Dana Hills, which improved to 6-1 in league with an 8-0 victory over San Clemente on Friday.