Late, 5-run rally ends ACA season

REDLANDS – One out from a section quarterfinal victory, the unthinkable happened to the Arrowhead Christian Academy baseball team.

Beckman High of Irvine’s Gus Powell hit a three-run home run over the fence in center field to give the Patriots the go-ahead runs in a 5-4 CIF Southern Section Division 3 victory.  The Patriots (18-13) clicked helmets and jumped and danced in celebration of the dramatic hit.

Beckman advances to the semifinals to meet visting San Dimas on Tuesday. 

“I was just thinking that I needed to put a ball in play because trying to hit a home run doesn’t work for me,” Powell said. “I needed to hit a line drive and that’s just what happened. It felt amazing.”

Beckman trailed 4-0 entering the inning but Nick Molina’s two-run home run cut the lead in half. A walk from ACA starting pitcher Bobby Mahoney preceded it.

An infield single by Seth Sanchez and a walk to Mark Terry prompted an ACA pitching change, with ACA coach Clint Toth making the switch after two consecutive balls were thrown to Terry.

The Eagles (18-12) then recorded two consecutive outs before Powell delivered his clutch home run far over the fence on a 1-0 count.

“That’s as tough as they come,” ACA coach Toth said. “That was our game to win, and we lost it. (Mahoney) did what he needed to do. It just came down to our bullpen. We just didn’t execute in the last inning. We needed three outs, and we couldn’t get them.”

Arrowhead Christian still had a chance. It got a two-out single to right field in the bottom of the seventh from Daniel Rivera. Rivera stole second base and advanced to third on an error. But a foul popout to Beckman catcher Moe McEvoy ended the Eagles’ season in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season.

Beckman deluged McEvoy following the stunning win.

“We played a tough schedule and took a lot of players and pushed them to their limit,” Toth said. “This senior class is special to me and I’m excited to see what it has going for the future, but this one is going to sting for a while.”

Mahoney pitched six-plus innings for ACA and allowed three hits and four runs while striking out six and walking five. He left after throwing 82 pitches.

“It was a tough loss,” Mahoney said. “We just couldn’t get it done in the later innings. I felt pretty good, but I think I just got a little tired toward the last inning.”

Pitchers Molina and Mahoney were dominant early. There was no scoring until Brayden Bennett’s RBI single in the fourth gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

Arrowhead Christian made it 4-0 in the fifth on a two-run single by Diesel Toth. Toth also came around to score on an infield error.

Molina was otherwise strong on the mound, pitching seven innings and allowing eight hits and four runs while striking out five and walking none.

Beckman coach Kevin Lavalle, in his 18^th year, urged his team to “get on base and take it one batter at a time” in the pivotal seventh inning.

“When you’re down by four, you take a strike,” said Lavalle who led Beckman to the D3 title last season with a championship win against St. John Bosco of Bellflower. “We made (Mahoney) throw strikes and he’s a phenomenal pitcher. I didn’t think we were going to score four runs by getting eight hits all of the sudden so the first thing you have to do is get guys on base and that’s what we did. Then it was just guys delivering.”

Rivera led ACA with two hits and Diesel Toth had one hit and two RBI.