Dos Pueblos pulled off the shocker in the CIF Division 2 baseball playoffs on Thursday, rallying past top-seeded Cypress 5-4 in a first-round game on the road.
Jordan Drewisch and Steven Reveles hit solo homers off Cypress ace Zach Ortiz in the sixth inning to tie the score at 4-4, and Johnny Corazza lined a single to drive in Kyle Richardson for the winning run in the seventh.
Joe Huthsing retired the side in the seventh to put the Chargers (20-8) into a second-round matchup with Mission Viejo at home on Tuesday.
“It was awesome,” said DP coach Nate Mendoza of beating the No. 1 seed. They were a really good team. They’re No. 1 in the division for a reason.”
That didn’t seem to matter to the Chargers, who have won a lot of big games on the road this season.
They outhit the Centurions 12-6 and didn’t make any errors.
“People forget how well we play defense,” said Mendoza.
DP scored a run in the first and left the bases loaded. Michael Spiritosanto doubled in Reveles for the 1-0 lead.
Cypress tied the score in the second when the UC Irvine-bound Ortiz homered off starter Gabe Speier.
The Chargers came right back in the third and retook the lead on a two-out, run-scoring single by Porfiro Avila.
Speier was pitching a solid game, allowing only the home run through three innings.
But Cypress got to the sophomore lefty in the fourth and took a 4-2 lead. The Centurions loaded the bases and scored three runs on a misplayed fly ball to left-center field.
Joe Huthsing came in and finished off the game for DP.
“Gabe pitched an amazing game. He gave only three hits and one was that misplayed ball in left-center,” Mendoza said. “Joe pitched 3 1/3 innings, gave up three hits and zero runs. He did a great job. He had Gabe’s back.”
Cypress brought in Ortiz to pitch in the fifth.
“He’s been the pitcher of the year in their league the last two years,” Mendoza said.
That didn’t matter to Drewisch and Reveles. Drewisch hit his homer to left-center and Reveles hammered a hanging curveball off the scoreboard in dead center.
Reveles was 2-for-4 with the homer and scored two runs and Drewisch was 2-4 with a double and home run. Spiritosanto continued his hitting tear, going 2-for-3 with a double, a RBI and a run scored. Richardson, who was playing sick, went 3-for-4 and played well behind the plate, said Mendoza.
“The kids came out fired up — I’ve never seen them so fired up,” Mendoza said. “They refused to lose. They’re not ready for their season to end.”
That win was huge. Congratulations to DP