Trabuco Hills Polishes Off San Juan Hills on Diamond, 4-0

Trabuco Hills hasn't been hitting the ball much lately. But it doesn’t seem to matter what they do at the plate in late March, as the Mustangs continue to pile up wins with a string of exceptional pitching efforts.

Senior Jake Chutney earned his fourth win of the season on Wednesday afternoon, going the distance in a 4-0 Sea View League victory at San Juan Hills. The Mustangs won their third game in three days, despite manufacturing only 10 runs during the span.

Trabuco Hills (10-2, 3-0 in league) capitalized on a couple of early mistakes by the Stallions en route to a four-run first inning, which proved to be more than enough offensive support for Chutney. The Seattle University signee never wavered in his seven innings of work, allowing only a single San Juan Hills base-runner to reach scoring position in the Mustangs’ third shutout win of the spring.

“We’ve got to tip our hat to Chutney,” Stallions coach Jeremy Wooten said. “He came in and threw a heck of a ball game. Sometimes you run into a guy who is having a great day and has all of his pitches working for him.”

Wooten’s starting pitcher wasn’t too shabby either. San Juan Hills senior Christian Stubbs also tossed a complete game, striking out eight without surrendering a walk. But the right-hander’s performance was ultimately negated before he could attain the afternoon’s first out.

Sophomore standout Adam Vargas led off the game with a single to center field against Stubbs. The next two batters in Trabuco Hills’ lineup, outfielder Ethan Stanton and Chutney, reached base on fielding errors.

Chutney attempted to move Vargas and Stanton closer to home plate with a sacrifice bunt, but a misplay at third base loaded the bases for first baseman Kevin Wade. The sophomore smacked a single through the right side of the infield to drive in Vargas.

With the bases loaded once more and still nobody out, right fielder Matt Harris delivered a line drive down the right-field line. The senior skipped the ball over the third-base bag for a bases-clearing double that pushed Trabuco Hills’ lead to 4-0.

"It was huge to get those runs on the board early," Mustangs coach Michael Burns said. "In this league, anytime somebody gives you a break, you have to take advantage. Those timely hits were great."

The floodgates opened in the first. Then, suddenly, the scoring stopped altogether.

Stubbs regrouped in a big way, retiring 21 of 22 Trabuco Hills batters after Harris’ double. He never allowed another Mustang to advance beyond first base and finished strong by striking out the side in the seventh inning.

“It shows a lot of maturity on Christian’s part,” Wooten said. “We kicked the ball around in the field early with those errors and he just stuck with it. After the first inning, he pretty much shut hitters down. He kept us in the ballgame and gave us an opportunity to win.”

San Juan Hills (6-3, 1-1) simply couldn’t size up Stubbs’ counterpart.

Chutney consistently hit his spots on the outside and inside edges of the plate with a late-moving fastball and uncorked a crisp curveball that never lost its effectiveness throughout a seven-strikeout, four-hit performance. The lefty often set up opponents by nibbling on the corners with offspeed pitches early in the count, before running a fastball up the ladder and tempting hitters to chase with two strikes.

“My fastball was really working well,” Chutney said. “I threw my curve ball for strikes and my change-up was dancing a bit.”

The two-time all-league selection underwent surgery on his throwing elbow in November. Chutney’s comeback has been crucial to the success of a surprising Mustangs squad.

"This was [Chutney's] best outing of the season by far," Burns said. "He had to recover from the off-season surgery, so it’s really nice to see him return to form and pitch like we’ve come to expect over the past couple years.”

Trabuco Hills capped off the best month of Burns’ four-year tenure by dealing San Juan Hills its first defeat at home. The Mustangs compiled an 11-25 record in March between 2008 and 2010, but things have turned around in a hurry.

The team matched its league win total of the past two seasons (Trabuco Hills was 3-17 versus Sea View competition since 2009) and beat highly-touted Aliso Niguel, 7-3, in its league opener. The Mustangs now have a one-week schedule hiatus before their second game against Laguna Hills (0-9, 0-3).

"Dealing with success is just as important as dealing with adversity," Burns said. "Our guys have certainly exceeded expectations, but we need to continue to battle."

The Stallions travel to Mission Viejo (5-4, 1-1) on Friday. San Juan Hills is only a three-year-old varsity program and aims to make a statement against the league favorite.

“Our game at Mission Viejo is a great opportunity for us and we’re looking forward to it,” Wooten said. “We know we’re going to face their No. 1 guy [senior pitcher Willie Kuhl] on the mound and they’re a highly-rated team in the county. We’re exited for this one. If you want to play with the big boys, you need to go out and prove it on the field."

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