DIVISION I BASEBALL : Edison’s Wynn Atones for Error

Jason Wynn’s act of redemption came at the right moment for Edison.

Wynn ended a frustrating afternoon with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the 11th to give the Chargers a 5-4 victory over Dana Hills Friday at Edison in the first round of the Southern Section Division I baseball playoffs. Edison will play Esperanza in the second round Tuesday.

That the Chargers (21-5) are still playing is because of Wynn, who refused to wallow in his mistakes.

His error allowed the Dolphins to tie the score in the seventh inning when a ground ball went off his glove and two runs scored. Wynn also struggled at the plate, including two strikeouts, before stepping up in the 11th.

He whacked the first pitch into right-center field to score John Maruska.

“That ball in the seventh just took a funny hop on me. It was a tough one,” Wynn said. “It felt real good to win it.”

This wasn’t the first late-inning heroics for Wynn, the Chargers’ No. 9 hitter. Earlier this season, he had a home run in the sixth inning to tie a game against Ocean View that Edison eventually won, 9-8.

“Paul may be our No. 9 hitter, but he’s hitting .340,” Edison Coach Paul Harrell said. “It didn’t surprise me that he came back after his mistake. That’s the type of kid he is.” The Chargers got a lot of help; Dana Hills (17-10) made six errors. The most costly came in the bottom of the eighth, after Seth Etherton had homered to give the Dolphins a 4-3 lead. Shortstop Mark Richardson threw the ball away on a potential double play, allowing Greg Hanoian to score from second.

The sloppy play wasted a solid pitching performance by Etherton, who gave up only four hits in eight innings. He struck out seven and allowed only one earned run.

The Chargers got an equally strong performance by Jamie Surdock. He allowed only five hits in six innings and struck out six. At one point, he retired 15 consecutive batters.

In other Division I games:

Esperanza 12, Alhambra 4--Alhambra’s eight errors helped Esperanza (21-5) to the win. Esperanza’s Marcus Jones also pitched four innings, allowing one hit and striking out six, while going two for four. Alhambra finishes 12-9.

Ocean View 4, Palos Verdes Pennisula 1--Justin Brunette pitched a one-hitter and went two for three with two RBIs for Ocean View (21-8). Brunette, who struck out eight and walked one, gave up his only hit with two outs in the seventh inning. Ocean View advances to play the winner of Glendale Hoover-Simi Valley Royal. Pennisula ends 18-7.

Fountain Valley 5, Rowland Heights Rowland 4--Chris Ponchak struck out for the third out in the bottom of the seventh, the ball bounced in the dirt, and the Rowland catcher, thinking the inning was over, held the ball, allowing Keith Robinson to score the winning run. The Rowland coaches were upset with the umpire, who had apparently signaled the inning over. Geoff Wilson’s two-out two-run double tied the score before Ponchak’s at-bat. Ara Petrosian (10-8) struck out nine to get the win for Fountain Valley (23-4), who will face the winner of Arcadia-Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

Lakewood 5, Los Alamitos 4--Frank Mellgoza drove in a fourth-inning run, which turned out to be the winning score for Lakewood (18-9).