5-A Baseball : El Dorado Steals It From Millikan, 2-0

El Dorado High School defeated Long Beach Millikan, 2-0, to win the Southern Section 5-A Division baseball championship Saturday night at Dodger Stadium in a game that came down to a stolen base.

El Dorado first baseman Matt Luke took a chance with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning of a scoreless tie when he decided to steal home. He hed reached third with the help of two sacrifices, after bunting for a single.

Luke was the first El Dorado runner that Millikan pitcher Todd Taylor had let get to third base. As the left-handed Taylor began his windup, Luke broke for home. The pitch was close, but Luke beat the tag.

Stealing home was a first for Luke. He had practiced it but never done it in a game.

“Coach said, ‘If you get half way, go for it,’ so I did,” Luke said. “That was the fastest I ever ran in my life. I just slid. I didn’t know where the plate was.”

Taylor had limited the Golden Hawks to two hits, both singles, but his teammates were not doing much better against El Dorado’s Pete Janicki.

Janicki had given up only three hits and allowed only one runner to get to third.

However, in the sixth, Millikan’s second baseman, Shawn Ferguson led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice by Aaron Seja. Wayne Hefft took his foot off first base too quickly and Seja was also safe on the error.

Taylor then hit into a double play, and Dante Powell grounded out to get Janicki out of the inning.

El Dorado added a run in the bottom of the sixth when Dave Moore hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Dave Swearingen.

Janicki, who improved his record to 8-1, struck out four and did not walk a batter.

It was El Dorado’s first win ever in the large school division. It won the 2-A title in 1976 and finished second in the 3-A in 1981. Earlier this season, few people felt El Dorado (23-8) would get this far, including its coach.

“We were 4-5 at one point this season, and I told my wife I wasn’t sure we were going to make the playoffs,” said El Dorado Coach Bud Murray.

Millikan (21-9) has grown accustomed to being in the finals. It is 2-3 in championship games, although it hasn’t advanced this far since 1984.

Millikan coach, Dan Peters, was impressed with El Dorado’s choice to steal home.

“It was a great play, a gutsy call; the pitcher wasn’t looking back,” Peters said.