NEWHALL – West Ranch baseball started out strong Wednesday in its Foothill League contest against Hart. The Wildcats led by five runs after a four-run third inning.
But by the end of the fifth inning, the contest was tied.
West Ranch eventually prevailed, 6-5, by scoring a run in the sixth inning, and the victory moved the Lancers closer to capturing the league title.
West Ranch improved to 14-12 overall and 8-3 in league, and Hart dropped to 10-14-1 and 5-5-1.
West Ranch is tied for first place with Castaic (8-3 in league) going into the final league game of the season Friday. West Ranch will play Hart and Castaic will face Canyon.
Saugus (8-4 in league) is right behind West Ranch and Castaic in the standings.
West Ranch led 5-0 after junior Josh Price hit a double to left field to drive in two runs and cap a four-run outburst for the team in the top of the third inning.
Senior Preston Loren had a notable day for West Ranch, as he went 3 for 3 out of the nine spot in the batting order and made a big impact late in the contest.
With the game tied at 5-5 in the top of the sixth inning, Loren had a two-out single to left field that drove in the go-ahead run.
“That was huge,” West Ranch head coach Ryan Lindgreen said about his team’s production throughout the lineup.
“Up and down our lineup, we had guys that hadn’t really produced for us this year. I mean our nine hole, Preston Loren, came up with three huge hits today … Just a fantastic day for him. What a great kid, too. Totally earns it and deserves it, so that was awesome to see.”
Hart didn’t go down quietly in the seventh. Senior Devin Thompson had a leadoff double that gave the Hawks a chance to tie the score.
But after junior Joaquin Durazo and senior Jaiden Chan popped out and grounded out, respectively, Matthew Perez came in to pinch-hit with two outs and Thompson standing at third base.
The junior couldn’t drive home the tying run, as he hit a soft fly ball to center field to end the game.
The loss puts Hart on the brink of missing the CIF-SS playoffs.
Hart dropped to fifth in the Foothill League standings. The Hawks need a win over West Ranch on Friday and a loss by Valencia against Golden Valley on the same day to secure the league’s fourth and final automatic playoff berth.
Lindgreen kept things simple when he looked ahead to West Ranch’s last league game.
“I think Friday’s gonna be the battle of the year between us and them,” he said of Hart, “trying to just go out and get a win and finish strong. I think it’s gonna be a dogfight.”