GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Santiago Alone in First After Beating Garden Grove

It was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Santiago High School’s baseball team, with nine of the 14 players on its roster up from last year’s junior varsity team.

But judging by Wednesday’s 7-2 victory over host Garden Grove, the kids are all right.

Santiago managed only five hits and struck out 10 times against Joe Aguirre, but the Cavaliers took advantage of nearly every Garden Grove mistake to take over first place in the Garden Grove League. The Cavaliers (15-6, 8-1 in league) had been tied with La Quinta, which on Wednesday fell, 12-8, to Pacifica.

Santiago loaded the bases in the first inning, and with two out, winning pitcher Louie Perez singled for two runs and Joe Huelskamp singled home a third.

Then, Santiago got resourceful, manufacturing runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings with the benefit of only two hits.

Perez struck out on a pitch that hit him in the foot in the sixth inning, but advanced to first on the wild pitch.

Perez moved to third on consecutive wild pitches by Aguirre and scored on a perfect squeeze bunt by Rick Montoya.

Perez (4-2) was equally effective on the mound, allowing only two hits in four innings.

“The kids surprise me every game,” Santiago Coach Myron Pines said. “I didn’t expect them to compete so well this year. We lost most of our starters from a co-championship team that won 18 games last year, to graduation.

“I’ve got 14 players and nobody sits. Everybody has a role on this team. Perez is actually my No. 3 pitcher behind Mike Kissel (6-1) and Robert Leon (4-2). This is a very balanced team.”

Garden Grove (8-8, 5-4) left nine runners on base and managed to score on a bases-loaded walk in the third and a fielding error in the sixth. Aguirre had two of his team’s four hits.

“Most of my kids played with Joe as youngsters and we know he’s an outstanding pitcher,” Pines said. “We had to take advantage of everything to beat him.”

Santiago was playing without shortstop Robert Jung (knee injury) and outfielder Jose Guzman (sore back) but showed its versatility in the final inning when third-string shortstop Scott McGarrh made two fine plays to end the game.

In other league games:

Pacifica 12, La Quinta 8--Pacifica scored four runs in the bottom of the third to take an 8-5 lead. Eric Stevens had a single, a double and a triple to drive in three runs, and Dave Aldapa and Dan Murray each had three hits and an RBI for host Pacifica (11-10, 5-4). Walter Dawkins had a two-run home run in a four-run first inning for La Quinta (17-4, 7-2), ranked third in the county.

Los Amigos 3, Bolsa Grande 1--Andy Fraser pitched a five-hitter, struck out six and walked one for host Los Amigos (5-11, 2-7). Joe Portillo had three hits and one RBI and Matt McCready had two hits and scored a run.

Rancho Alamitos 2, Kennedy 1--Marshall Brown (4-2) pitched a three-hitter and Brian Jordan and Erin Winemiller each singled in a run in the fourth inning for host Rancho Alamitos (7-8, 4-5).