HUNTINGTON BEACH – The Huntington Beach baseball team clinched the Surf League championship with a 6-0 victory over Edison on Tuesday at Huntington Beach High School.
The Oilers (21-6, 7-1) got all the offense they would need with a four-run first inning, making the outing that much easier for left-handed starter Dylan Ramirez who combined with Cole Tague and Jeremy Wiegman for the shutout.
The league title is the fourth in a row and fifth in six years for the Oilers, who are ranked No. 5 in CIF-SS Division 1.
Huntington Beach’s previous championships were in the Sunset League, which this year became the Sunset Conference and was divided into two four-team leagues.
By clinching the title Tuesday, the Oilers can relax going into their regular-season finale against Edison on Thursday. Had the Chargers (16-12, 4-4) won Tuesday, the league championship would have been riding on the outcome of Thursday’s game.
“It really is huge, but we did this last year,” Oilers coach Benji Medure said of the victory. “We clinched with a week left and then played the absolute worst game at Edison and they beat us. Even if it doesn’t matter, that’s not how we do things. That’s not in our culture. We’ve got to compete every single day like it’s a CIF championship. I fully expect to do that on Thursday.”
Edison did clinch second place and automatically qualified for the CIF-SS playoffs as Los Alamitos lost to Fountain Valley on Tuesday.
Huntington Beach batted around in its first at bat, collecting five hits, including an RBI double from Josh Hahn and RBI singles from Nick Upstill and Ken Takada.
“Once I saw the four-run lead, I didn’t have a care on the mound,” Ramirez said. “I just knew I was going throw strikes and I have good defense behind me.”
Hahn hit a two-run home run in the sixth and finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Edison had at least one runner on base in every inning except the seventh.
With two outs in the sixth Wiegaman hit three consecutive batters to load the bases for Edison. But the senior right-hander got Kendle on a fielder’s choice to get out of the jam.
“Whenever we’re at home, we feel that if we have a quick start, we’re really hard to beat,” Medure said. “It seems to happen a lot here. Something about being home in the comfort of our place.”
