High School Baseball Playoffs Roundup : El Segundo, San Marino Reach 2-A Final

For the ninth time in 30 years Coach John Stevenson has guided El Segundo High School into the Southern Section baseball finals.

The Eagles (25-5) defeated Temple City (20-8), Tuesday afternoon, 4-2, at Culver City High, to advance to the 2-A division final, which is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Dodger Stadium. El Segundo will play San Marino, a 4-3 winner over Gladstone.

El Segundo has won five Southern Section titles, the last coming in 1979 when it defeated Oxnard Hueneme in the 4-A championship. The Eagles’ last appearence in a final was 1980 when they lost to Santa Ana Mater Dei.

El Segundo senior Rick Clark pitched a complete game, giving up six hits and junior Garret Quaintance hit a one-out homer in the fifth inning to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead.

San Marino (22-3) won in the bottom of the seventh when Alphonso Montoya lined a single to right-center scoring Tony Garcia.

Placentia El Dorado 3, Lakewood 2--Phil Nevin scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning when he crashed into catcher Keith Tripp in the 5-A division semifinal game at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Tripp, who was unable to control the ball after taking a throw from Matt Luke, laid face down near home plate for several minutes. He lost a front tooth. Nevin was thrown out of the game for not sliding but the run counted. The loss marked the 14th consecutive year that the top-seeded team in the Southern Section major division has failed to win the title. Lakewood, in 1975, was the last top-seeded team to win a divisional title. El Dorado (22-8) will play Millikan (21-8) in the final, Saturday at 7:30 at Dodger Stadium. Lakewood finished the season 27-4.

Millikan 2, Hacienda Heights Wilson 0--Millikan’s Todd Taylor struck out 12 and allow only one hit, a clean single with one in the fifth inning by Mark Rushlow, as the Rams advanced to the 5-A final.

Fillmore 3, Aquinas 2--Fillmore (16-6) got the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning when, with two outs, Robbie Ibarra singled, Brad Edmonds and Rory Maus walked and Ibarra scored on Jay Weber’s error. Fillmore, which defeated Crossroad for the 1-A title, will play Beaumont Friday at Blair Field at 7:30 p.m.

Rosamond 5, Villanova 1--Mark Hartman improved to 12-0 as Rosamond advanced to the Southern Section Small Schools final Friday at 4:30 at Blair Field against Mammoth, which defeated Cate, 12-5.

Bell 7, South Gate 2--Regular shortstop Rene Lopez, who is hitting .509, made his fourth start and won his fourth game for the Eagles in the 3-A semifinal. Bell (30-5) will play Franklin (17-4), a 8-7 winner over Washington, in the City 3-A final, Thursday at Dodger Stadium. Franklin pitcher Phil Arreola improved to 11-1-2.