LJCD Earns Berth in Division IV Baseball Title Game

The La Jolla Country Day baseball team is going to the San Diego CIF Division IV finals Saturday morning at San Diego State’s Tony Gwynn Field. The Torreys (24-7) will take on Francis Parker (28-4) at 10 a.m. for the title. This will actually be the rubber match between these Coastal South League rivals who split a pair of regular season decisions.

The final two steps to reach the finals were a bit on the treacherous side, as the Torreys needed extra innings to finish on top both times. In Tuesday’s 9-8 semifinal victory over visiting Christian in nine innings, the Torreys had to overcome a pair of two-run deficits. One of those came in the bottom of the ninth when they scored their final three runs.

With the bases loaded and Christian aligned in a five-man infield in hopes of turning a double play, up stepped Yossi Stein. In just his fifth at-bat of the season, Stein drove the ball deep enough to the center fielder for a sacrifice fly, allowing Dustin Hughes to score the winning run that sent the Torreys to their first-ever SDCIF Championship game.

Perhaps the two biggest hits for the Torreys were supplied by catcher Alex Guenette, who was 3-for-4 with four RBI. He smacked a two-out, two-run double in the seventh, sending the game into extra frames. Two innings later he tied the score with a two-run single to set up Stein's game-winning RBI.

Anthony Torres, Tommy Edman, Dustin Hughes and Austin Rooke each had two hits for the Torreys and combined to score eight of the team's nine runs.