San Diego Section Baseball : 2-A: Escondido and Clairemont Win Semifinals

LA MESA â€”  Reliever Oscar Lopez struck out Darren Sesslar with the tying run at third in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday as Escondido held off top-seeded Mission Bay, 6-5, in a San Diego Section 2-A semifinal baseball game at Grossmont College.

The victory put Escondido into the championship game against Clairemont Wednesday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. It also avenged a 6-3 semifinal loss to the defending section champions in last year’s playoffs.

Escondido led, 6-3, going into the bottom of the seventh, but Cougar starter Andy Martin gave up a single to open the inning and then fell behind, 2-0, to the next batter, Greg Enrique.

Lopez was moved from second base to the mound. He walked Enrique and gave up a single to Scott Vonderlieth to load the bases with no outs.

Lopez struck out Mike McMahon, but Tony Lennan, who had struck out in three previous at-bats, dropped a two-run fly ball into left field to cut Escondido’s lead to 6-5.

Lopez induced Colin Davis to fly to left for the second out and then struck out Sesslar to end the game.

“I was feeling good,� Lopez said. “I knew I was going to strike him out.�

The fourth-seeded Cougars (15-11), ranked No. 9 in The Times’ rankings and winners of the Avocado League, will make their first appearance in the section final since 1978.

Escondido scored twice in the first and three times in the third and got the game-winner in the fifth on an error. The Cougars took advantage of two errors for four unearned runs.

Martin--who picked up the victory with 11 strikeouts--was 3 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI, and teammate Jason Hobbs went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Mission Bay (17-7), the Western League champion, had nine hits but wasted numerous scoring opportunities, leaving runners on base in every inning but the fifth. Mission Bay stranded a total of nine runners.

Clairemont 15, University of San Diego High School 4--Clairemont (15-11-1) scored in every inning but the second in its rout of USDHS (19-9).

The victory was Clairemont’s third in four games against its Western League rival. Ellis Lowell went 3 for 5 with four RBIs and Rick Doane was 3 for 5 with three RBIs for Clairemont, which had 17 hits.

USDHS committed six errors for seven unearned runs to help put Clairemont in the final. Pete Hawes and Matt Siesal each scored two runs for USDHS.

Clairemont pitcher Andy Williams pitched a three-hitter, striking out seven and not allowing an earned run.