ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASEBALL : Sunset League : In a Pinch, Westminster Hammers Ocean View

When Ken Ostrowski, Westminster High School baseball coach, sent Dax Hammers to pinch-hit against Ocean View in the top of the seventh inning Friday, he did it as a reward more than anything else.

Hammers, a junior designated to replace senior catcher Dan Villegas next season, was batting .143. In seven at-bats this season, he had one hit--a double. But Ostrowski knew Hammers had been working hard and improving, and with the Lions trailing by three runs after six innings, he decided to give Hammers a chance.

Hammers gave Ostrowski a reward of his own--a leadoff home run that sparked a four-run seventh inning, giving Westminster (3-1-1, 9-1-1) a 6-5 come-from-behind victory at Ocean View.

It was the first league loss for Ocean View (4-1, 7-4).

After Hammers’ home run, the Lions, who had managed only three hits--all singles--since the first inning, scored three more runs. Dean Eddy drew a one-out walk, scoring on a double by Villegas. Al Rodriguez doubled, scoring Villegas. Then Ocean View reliever Mike Fyhrie intentionally walked Ryan Klesko with two out, and designated hitter and winning pitcher Brian Stubbs singled, driving in what turned out to be the game-winning run.

Fyhrie got Scott Turner to ground out, ending the inning.

Klesko then struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, earning his third save and raising his strikeout total to 31 in 20 innings.

Stubbs (4-1) allowed four hits over 2 innings.

“We didn’t hand it to them. They won this game,” said Bill Gibbons, Ocean View coach. “They hit the ball in the last inning.”

Ocean View appeared to be in control before the last inning. David Holdridge, who had hit three three-run home runs--two of them game-winners--in the last two games, hit a grand slam in the fourth inning that gave the Seahawks a 5-2 lead.

“I think the Holdridge grand slam had us mentally warped,” Ostrowski said.

Holdridge was the first batter faced by Stubbs, who replaced starter John Gonzales after he had allowed a run and loaded the bases on two walks and two singles.

Holdridge, a pitcher who has been serving as the designated hitter while recovering from a dislocated right collarbone, hit a 1-2 pitch well out of the park to dead center field--probably a 400-foot shot, Gibbons said.

“I think he’s recovered,” Gibbons said.

Westminster took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run home run by Al Rodriguez, who finished the day 3 for 3 with a homer, a double, a single and a walk.

Ocean View remains in first place in the league, but the loss narrowed a race that was threatening to become a runaway.

“If Ocean View had gone 5-0, I think everybody in the league would agree, it was ‘Katie bar the door,’ ” Ostrowski said. “It (the league race) would have been over.”

Fountain Valley 11, Marina 2--Rob Flynn hit a two-run home run in the second and the Barons (1-4, 3-8) scored four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings at Fountain Valley. Winning pitcher Steve Montgomery (1-0) struck out five and walked two. Marina is 1-4 in league.

Huntington Beach 8, Edison 1--Kenny Realing hit a three-run home run and Brian McLeod hit a solo home run, leading the Oilers (2-2-1) at Edison. Dominique Alvarez was the winning pitcher.