Aliso Niguel Easily Beats Marina for Championship

No. 8 Aliso Niguel jumped out to an eight-run lead and cruised to a 9-2 victory over Marina in the championship game of the Big West Invitational Wednesday at Windrow Park.

Viking starter Shaun Bartholomew (3-3) didn’t make it out of the first inning, giving up a one-out, bases-loaded walk to Pat Hebeler and a bases-clearing double to Gerry Rommel one batter later that gave the Wolverines a 4-0 advantage.

Aliso Niguel, which scored 30 runs in three tournament games coming in, scored twice in the second on a one-out homer by tournament MVP Chris Fielder and a sacrifice fly by Sean Koch, and two more times in the fourth that made the score, 8-0.

Michael Potter (5-1) held Marina scoreless the first three innings before Jonathan Greeley and J.T. Searles produced RBI hits in the bottom of the fourth to draw the Vikings (9-10) to within 8-2.

Potter was able to get out of the inning, and Koch came in to pitch the final three innings to pick up his sixth save, striking out the side in the seventh to end the game.

“The key is getting solid pitching, and that’s what we’ve been getting,” Aliso Niguel Coach Mike Chapman said. “We have a lot of depth on the mound, and when you swing the bat like we’ve been lately, it helps.”

Darren Pitchford went three for five with three runs scored and Koch had two hits and two RBIs for Aliso Niguel (15-4).