RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — For the second time in five days, the team deemed the worst in Division 2 of the CIF Southern Section baseball playoffs knocked down a giant.
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In the first round, it was top-seeded Villa Park.
In the second round Tuesday, it was a team from the Trinity League.
Elsinore scored a second shocking playoff victory, this time taking down Santa Margarita 6-4.
For the second time in five days, it was Cypress College-bound pitcher Jacob Farias who did the heavy lifting. He pitched six innings of six-hit ball before giving way to reliever Bryson Boyd, who gave up a leadoff single in the seventh, then retired the Nos. 9, 1 and 2 batters.
Both of the Tigers’ playoff victories have been on the road, and they’ll be at home in the quarterfinals. If they get that far, they’ll also be home in the semifinals.
“They won a lot of games last year, they won a lot of games this year, they know how to win,” Santa Margarita coach Chris Malec said of Elsinore. “They have a winning culture. It’s a testament to the coaching staff teaching them how to stay composed and sticking with it. They’re a well-balanced team that finds a way to win. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.”
Elsinore improved to 22-3. Last season it went 23-8. The Tigers have only burnished their resume with impressive back-to-back playoff victories.
“We thought we were Cinderella last year when we won it all in Division 5,” Elsinore coach Don Nicholson said. “I was a little surprised we bumped all the way up to D2. We knew we had our work cut out for us. Maybe we’ll show them we can win D2 also.”
Elsinore will host the quarterfinal round against Ganesha of Pomona, a 5-2 winner over South Hills of West Covina.
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Santa Margarita finished 16-14, but went 12-3 outside of the Trinity League.
Early on it looked like the Eagles were going to continue their dominance outside of league play. They took a 4-0 lead after three innings and the odds of ending Elsinore’s Cinderella story seemed likely.
That strong start seemed to be a continuation of the explosive offensive display the Eagles had in a 19-1 win over Rancho Christian in the first round. In that game, the Eagles slugged eight home runs.
“Just had to calm my nerves down,” said Farias, who improved to 8-0 this season after walking the first three batters of the game and giving up two runs without allowing a hit—a sacrifice fly by freshman Cooper Holland and a squeeze bunt by sophomore Tyler George. “Playing a Trinity League team, big team, everyone knows them. I wanted to be the one to shut them down. They got to me early but I had to keep my composure. You’ve got to stay calm and compete for your team.”
He gave up a solo home run to Vincent Milo in the second inning and to Andre Owens leading off the third inning.
But two errors by Santa Margarita in the fourth inning — and a two-run single by No. 9 batter Robert Gates —helped Elsinore score three times.
They were back in it and changing the momentum.
In the sixth, an error and walk sent Santa Margarita pitcher Tyler Unter to the dugout. An RBI single by Isaac Garcia, and Santa Margarita’s fifth error led to two more Elsinore runs and a 5-4 lead.
Two walks to open the top of the seventh inning were followed by a one-out squeeze bunt by Elsinore’s Tyler Willeford that scored Bryson Boyd for a 6-4 advantage.
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