Laguna Hills’ Harvey Shuts the Door on Brea

Laguna Hills’ Nick Harvey gained attention this month when he became the first Orange County player to hit 14 home runs in a season.

But Tuesday he was noticed more for his arm as he pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief without giving up a run in his first pitching appearance of the season and the Hawks beat Brea Olinda, 7-6, in nine innings in a Southern Section Division III baseball game.

Laguna Hills (16-10-1) got the winning run in the top of the ninth when sophomore right fielder Danny Lee drove a home run over the left-center field fence.

“I got a fastball right over the middle of the plate,” Lee said.

During fall workouts, Harvey established himself as one of the team’s top two pitchers but has been bothered by a sore arm since just before the start of the season and was limited to playing first base.

He wouldn’t have been called on Tuesday, but Laguna Hills ace Justin Stanfield (9-3) was ill and remained at home.

So, running low on options, Hawk Coach Pete Tereschuk brought in Harvey with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth.

Travis Vaughan, who reached base four times, lined Harvey’s first pitch into right to drive in a run and tie it, 6-6. Harvey got a strikeout to end the inning. Harvey was helped greatly by the Laguna Hills defense as well.

Shortstop Jared Novak took a hard-hit grounder up the middle and turned it into an inning-ending double play in the sixth. Novak also made a fine over-the-shoulder catch of a fly ball in the seventh to stop another Brea rally.

Brea had upset third-seeded Foothill, 6-4, Friday and seemed ready to win again in the eighth when Andy Drapkowski singled, stole second and took third on a passed ball with one out.

Mike Ausman, who had hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Greg Stoddard, who had two hits, were then intentionally walked to load the bases.

Scott Davis then hit a hard grounder but second baseman Kevin McCaffery got it and tossed it to Novak who stepped on second and threw to first a half-step ahead of Davis.

Stanfield is expected to start when Laguna Hills plays Artesia in a quarterfinal game Friday at a site to be determined by a coin flip.

In other Division III games:

El Monte Mountain View 2, Sonora 1--Nick Cordova blasted his fifth homer, a two-run shot, in the bottom of the fourth for unseeded Mountain View (18-4), which held on to defeat second-seeded Sonora (23-4) and advance to the quarterfinals.

Juan Martinez held Sonora to two hits and struck out four for Mountain View. Eric Estrada gave up two runs on five hits and struck out seven for Sonora.

Canyon 2, Lake Elsinore 0--Mike Tomarelli pitched a three-hitter with five strikeouts as Canyon defeated Lake Elsinore to advance to the quarterfinals. Tomarelli walked with the bases loaded in the sixth inning to score Jason Corapci and give the Comanches a 1-0 lead.

Canyon (22-6) plays Palm Desert in the quarterfinals.

Artesia 4, Buena Park 1--Richie Pohle was three for three, including his sixth homer, in a losing effort for Buena Park (14-12).