IRVINE >> The Woodbridge baseball team Thursday beat Beckman 4-3 at Ryan Lemmon Stadium to remain in the race for its second consecutive Pacific Coast League championship.
Woodbridge (18-7, 12-3) is one game behind Beckman (19-6, 13-2) in the standings with one more meeting between the two teams on Monday. Both teams have two other league games after that, against Laguna Hills and Northwood, respectively.
“I’m happy with the performance all the way around, but we know it’s not done,” Woodbridge coach Ryan Brucker said. “All you can ask your team is to be in position to win a championship at the end of the year, and fortunately we’ve been in a place to do that the last two seasons.”
Woodbridge had a 4-1 lead entering the fifth inning and the Patriots rallied for two runs on back-to-back RBI singles by Josh Miller and Marcus Ziegler to cut the lead to one.
Brucker turned to pitcher Sean McCance, who is usually a starting pitcher, to preserve the lead. McCance was able to shut down the Beckman offense, allowing no hits and one walk in 2 1/3 innings of work to earn the save.
“I just had a lot of confidence in this team because we never give up,” McCance said. “I had confidence in my defense, Jake Amundson is a great shortstop. I just wanted to throw strikes and we got the job done.”
McCance has not allowed a run since March 19 and now has 30 strikeouts in 24 innings. Thursday was his first save of the season.
“He’s just a competitor, it’s not a role he’s used to being in,” Brucker said of McCance. “He’s a strike thrower and bringing him in was a no-brainer.”
Woodbridge scored two runs in each of the first two innings to build an early lead. Nathan Perry led the first inning off with a double and later scored on a throwing error by the Beckman pitcher. On the same play, Beckman’s right fielder made a throwing error that allowed Chase Quezada to score and give the Warriors a 2-1 lead.
In the second inning, Perry drove in Dylan Blakey with a single. On the ensuing at-bat, Quezada hit a run-scoring single to increase the lead to 4-1.
Perry is one of the top hitters in the Pacific Coast League and has a .452 batting average in league games.
“He’s really taken off and he sets the table for us,” Brucker said of Perry. “It’s a really important spot and he’s run with it. He’s been one of the best players in the league all season.”
Marshall Minor hit a run-scoring double for Beckman in the first inning. Left-hander Jackson Snitko pitched four shutout innings out of the bullpen for the Patriots, allowing just one hit and striking out two.
Matthew Kuromoto got the win on the mound for Woodbridge. The junior pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowed three runs and struck out six.
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