Mater Dei Escapes Mission Viejo on Perry’s Eighth-Inning Homer

Rod Perry hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning as second-ranked Mater Dei beat visiting Mission Viejo, 7-5, in South Coast League baseball Friday.

Mater Dei was leading 5-4 going into the top of the seventh inning. Mission Viejo’s Scott Carr walked to lead off the inning and reached third on a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Commander King singled to drive in Carr and tie the score.

Perry had two hits and three RBIs for Mater Dei (14-3, 7-0). Teammate Pat Manning had three hits and Ryan Fitzpatrick hit a home run.

Mission Viejo drops to 2-5 in league.

In the Century League:

Canyon 8, Santa Ana Valley 5--Jeff Leuenberger had three hits with a triple, a home run, and three runs batted in for seventh-ranked Canyon (14-4, 6-1).

Scott Walker had a pinch-hit solo home run in the fifth to break a 5-5 tie.

Orange 6, El Modena 5--James Starr doubled in two runs in the fourth to tie the score and Orange scored the go-ahead run on a balk in the fifth. Starr had three hits for the Panthers (8-9, 5-2).

In the Empire League:

El Dorado 7, Loara 3--Greg Posein hit a grand slam in the fourth to break a 2-2 tie for top-ranked El Dorado (16-2, 6-1). Brandon Downing homered in the third for El Dorado.

Katella 3, Cypress 1--Mike Martinez (2-1) went the distance with six strikeouts while giving up only one earned run for Katella (11-7, 3-4). Phil Seibel (3-1) had 11 strikeouts and three walks, while giving up only three hits for Cypress (8-6-2, 5-2).

Kennedy 6, Century 3--Gabe Roman had a three-run homer in the first inning and George Carralejo (4-3) gave up four hits and struck out 13 for Kennedy (11-7, 4-3).

In the Olympic League:

Brethren Christian 9, Whittier Christian 4--Jonathan Rouwenhourst (7-0) scattered seven hits and struck out 10 to increase his county-leading strikeout total to 93 for Brethren Christian (12-5, 5-2).

In the Orange League:

Magnolia 4, Brea Olinda 0--Denniz Loza (4-1) pitched a four-hitter, striking out six and walking two, and Colt Martin was three for three with two runs scored for 10th-ranked Magnolia (13-1-1, 6-1).

In the Sea View League:

El Toro 6, Woodbridge 3--Colin Stiltz hit a three-run homer in the third inning for El Toro. It was Stiltz’s fourth homer of the year.

Irvine 12, Corona del Mar 6--Tim Rapp (3-1) entered in the fourth inning and threw four shutout innings to earn the victory for Irvine (11-7, 5-2).

Santa Margarita 10, Newport Harbor 5--Andy Hopper, Jeff Kuno and Casey Grzecka each hit a home run as fourth-ranked Santa Margarita (16-2, 7-0) defeated Newport Harbor (5-11, 1-6). The home run was Kuno’s seventh this season.

In the Sunset League:

Fountain Valley 9, Marina 5--Nick Stavale was two for three with three RBIs for fifth-ranked Fountain Valley (12-6, 6-1). Kenny LaPoint had a solo home run in the sixth for Marina (11-7, 4-3).

Esperanza 14, Los Alamitos 6--Tommy Nicholson was four for four with a home run, two doubles, two runs and seven RBIs for second-ranked Esperanza (14-3, 6-1). Brandon Pack (6-2) pitched five innings, gave up two earned runs and struck out four for the Aztecs.