SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Servite Sees 5-0 Lead Turn Into Defeat : Esperanza Rebounds From Almost-Dead to Win in Ninth, 7-5

There are comebacks, and there are resurrections. The latter applies to Esperanza High School’s 7-5 victory over Servite in Friday’s Southern Section 4-A quarterfinal playoff game.

This wasn’t just “come from behind.” This was a return from what seemed certain playoff death.

The Boston Red Sox make highlight films out of the stuff Esperanza used to claw its way out of elimination in front of an overflow crowd at Servite. After five innings, the Aztecs were staring squarely into a 5-0 deficit and Friar pitcher James Ferguson, who had lost only one game during his three-year varsity career.

The depths don’t get much deeper than this.

“We were pretty depressed,” Esperanza shortstop Tom Redington said. “We weren’t dead, but we were kind of just going through the motions.”

Three runs in the top of the sixth served as a cold slap in the face. Two more in the seventh--on Redington’s ninth homer of the season--tied the score and made the Aztecs believe that anything was possible.

Doug Saunders’ RBI double to the gap in right-center in the ninth gave the Aztecs the lead for the first time . . . but it was the only time that mattered.

Servite, which had the winning run at third with no outs in the eighth and couldn’t score, had two on and one out in the ninth before Esperanza third baseman Brent Bish backhanded a Brian Criss ground ball, stepped on third and made the long throw to first for a game-ending double play.

That signaled the start of a victory celebration the likes of which the Aztecs hadn’t seen since a June night last year in Dodger Stadium, when they won the 1986 4-A title.

Until that moment, it appeared as if these teams would keep emotionally torturing each other until a lack of sunlight forced the umpires to make everybody go home. It was nearly 3 1/2 hours of ups and downs. When it was over, the Friars were confronted with their first loss in 14 games on their home field this season. They were visibly--and understandably--stunned.

Esperanza (24-2) is two victories away from defending its 4-A title. The Aztecs will meet Arcadia, a 7-6 winner over Ocean View Friday, in the semifinals next Tuesday. The Friars close the season with a 21-6-1 record and that numb feeling that comes with losing a game that you were six lousy outs away from winning.

Servite was feeling little pain in the first inning, though. Tom Szymanski and Mike Robertson led off the first with doubles, and Esperanza starter Jason Moler found himself in an early 1-0 hole. One out later, Mike Petko hit a Moler pitch over the scoreboard in left-center, and Servite led, 3-0.

Rob Nay replaced Moler to start the second inning and gave up four walks and a wild pitch to help the Friars extend their lead to 4-0. Criss made it 5-0 when he lead off the fifth with a homer to left.

Meanwhile, Ferguson was keeping Esperanza hitters frustrated. Through five innings, the Aztecs had four hits, and had hit only two balls out of the infield. But in the sixth, Ferguson walked Redington, gave up a double to Saunders, and walked Moler to load the bases.

Servite Coach Mike McNary went to the mound and brought Ferguson back with him. Junior Andy Croghan became the new Friar pitcher.

Eric Franzen greeted Croghan with an opposite-field blooper down the left-field line that cut Servite’s lead to 5-2. Pinch-hitter Jim Short followed with a run-scoring single to left. Croghan was fortunate to get out of the inning with a 5-3 lead when Bart Goldman hit a sharp line drive to center that Szymanski caught and doubled up Esperanza pinch-runner Greg Hauser off second.

Bish led off the Aztec seventh with a double down the left-field line. That brought up Redington, one of Orange County’s most feared hitters, with first base open. McNary decided to pitch to him rather than putting the tying run on base.

Redington drove a Nay pitch over the center-field fence. At Servite, that fence is only 304 feet away from home plate. Earlier in the week, McNary had resisted moving the game to a bigger ballpark to accommodate the big crowd, but liked his team’s chances at Servite, where the Friars were 12-0-1.

“I wanted to play the game here so bad,” McNary said. “Then Redington hits one over that fence. I was thinking, ‘Great call, Coach.’ ”

Todd Cook replaced Nay after Bish led off the ninth with a single. He walked Redington and Saunders followed with his third hit of the game. He lofted a fairly deep fly ball to right-center that Szymanski couldn’t quite run down.

The Aztecs escaped a jam in the bottom of the ninth and the resurrection was complete.

“This is one of those games that, by three o’clock tomorrow, we might be recovered from,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “Right now, everybody’s just drained.”