SAN BERNARDINO — Actor Kevin Costner played baseball at Villa Park High.
Tuesday, Villa Park made Aquinas High School its own “Field of Dreams,” stunning the Falcons 8-2 in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 second-round game played under a hot sun.
Villa Park (24-6) will now play fourth-seeded St. John Bosco (24-4) in a quarterfinal game Friday at noon.
The top of the first inning was a dream come true for Villa Park and a nightmare for Aquinas (25-3), which came into the game ranked sixth in the state by CalHiSports.com. The Falcons had not lost since dropping a 5-2 decision to San Jose Valley Christian of San Jose on April 14.
But Villa Park entered the game ranked 20th in the state and is no pushover. The Spartans showed their muscle in the first inning after loading the bases with no outs on a hit batsman and two walks.
A two-run single by Val Lopez and then one-out singles by Gunner Santillo, Jake Nobles, Ezra Ornelas, and Austin Park produced six runs.
Lopez had a big day for the Spartans, collecting three hits and driving in two runs.
“I just simplified my approach and put the barrel on the ball and helped my team win,” Lopez said.”
Villa Park pounded out 13 hits to 11 for Aquinas, which was more than enough for starting and winning pitcher Nobles. The right-hander pitched five innings and allowed nine hits but yielded only two runs. He struck out five and walked none.
Nobles said Villa Park’s six-run first inning helped.
“It really gives you confidence to go out there and keep going,” Nobles said. “You know that you can just throw strikes and that your team has your back.”
A fastball in the high 80s, a changeup, and a slider worked for Nobles, who ran into difficulty in a two-run Aquinas fifth inning but was otherwise on point.
“It feels really good,” Nobles said. “That’s a good team over there (Aquinas) but we played our game today.”
Said Lopez, “It feels amazing. We got (St. John) Bosco next. We’re ready to go.”
Estaban Olazaba’s two-run single in the fifth inning brought Aquinas to within 6-2. Carter Hadnot also had a key double in the inning.
But Villa Park struck for single runs in the sixth and seventh to make Aquinas’ task more difficult. Nate Lewis drove in a run for the Spartans in the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Aidan Young had an RBI single for Villa Park in the seventh.
Young also made a key play for Villa Park in the first inning, throwing a man out at the plate from right field for the last out of the inning.
“The kids came out ready to play and they competed right from the first inning and kept it going throughout the game,” said Villa Park’s Burt Call, who is in his 26th year as the Spartans coach. “We knew we were going to play a good team and that they were ranked pretty high and they have a lot of really talented players, but our guys really took the challenge.”
Besides Lopez’s big day at the plate, Shawn Romero and Ornelas both had two hits for Villa Park.
It was a tough way to end the season for Ambassador League champion Aquinas, which hadn’t played a game in two weeks due to its first-round bye.
“Giving up six in the first was not what we wanted,” Aquinas coach Mike Carpentier said. “But you’re off for two weeks the way the CIF bracket is (with the bye) and I don’t like to make any excuses, but it feels different when you’re off for two weeks. But we just didn’t get the job done. You have about 11 hits and seven lineouts and you shouldn’t lose, especially 8-2.”
Gavin Egan sparkled in relief for Aquinas. The right-hander threw 5 2/3 innings and yielded seven hits but only one run, while striking out two and walking one.
“Gavin has closed our games all year long and he started a few times,” Carpentier said. “He’s been our horse for the last three years and he’s never had a loss at a Aquinas.”
Egan entered the game with a 7-0 record on the mound this season with a 0.96 earned run average. He was also hitting .372.
Olazaba, Jonathan Tena, and Maddox Carpentier all had two hits for Aquinas and Olazaba drove in two runs.
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