CHINO HILLS — When the Ayala baseball team lost to Anaheim Canyon in a tournament game April 3, it was a low point of the season.
The rematch was far from a low point for the Bulldogs.
Ayala advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 2 semifinals with a 7-4 victory Friday over Canyon in a quarterfinal game at Ayala High School.
The Bulldogs (15-11-1) play at Moorpark in the semifinals Tuesday.
‘We hit an ugly patch and it’s been fun to see them turn the page,” Ayala coach Brad McGuire said.. “You obviously want to win league, but if you can make a run in the playoffs, that’s the ultimate goal.”
After Canyon scored the game’s first run on a Jonathan Sandoval RBI double in the second inning, Ayala seized control in the bottom half with some help from the Comanches.
Codey Brown led off with a single and when Canyon couldn’t throw out Dylan Wood on his sacrifice bunt, two runners were on. Another bunt put runners on second and third before a two-run single by Brody Gomez gave Ayala the lead for good and Aidan Erlandsen hit a single and Jaden Valenzuela added a triple to give Ayala a 4-1 lead.
Canyon immediately threatened again and another defensive play was critical in thwarting it.
The Comanches loaded the bases with on outs in the third before a flyout that was too shallow for the runner on third to try and score. Johnny Lopez then hit a liner on which second baseman Eric Hernandez made a diving catch that he turned into an inning-ending double play.
Canyon never got the tying run to the plate the rest of the game.
“They executed so you give them credit,” Canyon coach Jason Smith said. “We fielded bunts all year and the one time we don’t (it hurts us). We’ve gotten our hits and we just didn’t today.”
“It’s so nice to have him (Hernandez) at second base,” Ayala starting pitcher Jeremy Byers said. “Moving from shortstop to second, with Eli Duarte at shortstop and Eric is such a nice combo up the middle. Being able to make that play really gave us momentum.”.
Ayala won despite No. 3 hitter Caleb Trugman going 0-for-4. Instead, Gomez and Brown had two hits apiece, Erlandsen had a hit and two walks and Valenzuela had a hit and a walk.
“Caleb’s been our guy all year. And the fact that we were able to do it with him having an off-day was huge. We know he’s going to be back out there in the next game and be back to his normal self,” McGuire said.
Ayala got a solid start from Byers, who allowed two runs (one earned) while striking out six in five innings.
“My off-speed was working well. I want to give credit to coach (Joe) Verplancke for making some really good pitch calls in certain spots and I think we were able to get out of innings and escape without too much damage,” Byers said.
Trailing 7-2 in the seventh, Canyon had three straight batters reach base with two outs, but Isaac Huver was able to strike out Sandoval to finish off the victory.
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