Prep Baseball : Santa Ana Wins League

The Santa Ana High School baseball team earned the championship of the Century League with a 10-2 victory in a make-up game at El Modena Saturday.

The Saints (12-2, 20-4) took a 7-0 lead in the third inning against Vanguard starter Dion Espinoza, and went on to accrue 16 hits. Santa Ana’s three top hitters accounted for 10 hits.

“That’s not bad,” said Bill Ross, Santa Ana coach. “This is probably the best overall hitting team I’ve had in one season. We have over 230 hits in 24 games.

“We don’t have overpowering pitching. We rely basically on throwing strikes, playing good defense, and the offense scoring some runs. So far the formula has worked. In the playoffs, we’ll face some teams with awfully good pitching. We’ll have to keep hitting to win.”

John Schilling, who also pitched two innings of relief, led the Saints at the plate with four hits and three RBIs. Sophomore third baseman John Hefler contributed four hits and two RBIs, and center fielder Richard Tellez had two hits.

Santa Ana’s John Torres was the winning pitcher, allowing three hits in five innings. One of them was Cory Ahart’s solo home run in the fourth inning. El Modena finished the season with a 6-7-1 league record, 11-12-1 overall.

In Sunset League action:

Marina 2, Edison 1--The Vikings scored two runs in the first inning and hung on for the victory, finishing the season in fourth place (7-8, 10-11). Dave Emmon doubled to drive in the first run, while the second run scored on a single by Greg Knuff.

Edison (6-9, 15-12), which dropped to fifth place, scored its lone run when Ron Chock homered in the fourth inning.