MISSION VIEJO — The Tesoro baseball team clinched the outright South Coast League championship by beating Capistrano Valley 9-8 in eight innings Wednesday at Capistrano Valley High.
Tesoro (19-8, 9-2) won the CIF-SS Division 2 championship and a CIF SoCal Regional championship last season, but it hadn’t won a league championship since 2018 when the Titans won the Sea View League title.
“I’m so proud of our boys. We had so much grit today and that has been the story of our season,” Tesoro coach Tony Nieto said. “We missed out on it the last two years and we were one win away in 2021. This was our goal from the very beginning and we had the right guys coming back from last year.”
“After this long of a wait, it feels amazing to be able to stand on the top of this hill,” senior catcher Carter Jorissen said. “There are so many great teams in this league, so winning it feels great.”...click below for the full article
Jackson Freeman went 2 for 4 with a home run and five RBIs to lead the Tesoro (21-8). Brandon Woolley hit a two-run home run and Kevin McCaffery went 3 for 4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Every hitter in the Tesoro lineup got a hit. Hunter Sablatura had three hits with a walk and scored three runs. Pitcher Coleton Dahl allowed three runs in six innings with five strikeouts for the Titans. Tesoro will play its second-round game Tuesday at Culver City.
Tesoro, seeded #3 in Division 4 is "the best county team here".
Final Four prediction: Aquinas; Tahquitz; Tesoro; El Modena
DIVISION 4:
1) Aquinas
2) Walnut
3) Tesoro
4) Santiago/Corona
5) Tahquitz
6) Serra
7) Glendora
8) San Marcos
9) Long Beach Wilson
10) El Modena
The Titans open league play against El Toro with a 13-1 record and a six-game winning streak. They are No. 11 in the Orange County top 25 and No. 1 in CIF Southern Section Division 4. Junior outfielder Jackson Freeman is batting .511 with a team highs of 12 RBIs and 17 runs scored. Senior right-hander Coleton Dahl is 4-0 with a 0.44 ERA. He has struck out 35 in 32 innings with four walks. Sophomore right-hander Kyle Volpe is 3-0 and has not allowed an earned run in 19 innings. He has 23 strikeouts with seven walks. Junior catcher Carter Jorissen is batting .312 with 11 RBIs. Senior infielder Brandon Woolley is hitting .364 with eight RBIs and 11 runs scored. The South Coast League is, as usual, one of the county’s better baseball groups with Capistrano Valley, Dana Hills, El Toro and Mission Viejo in the five-team league.
Jackson Freeman was 4-4 with four RBIs in an Anaheim Lions Tournament win over McQueen of Nevada. During the Titans’ five tournament wins he was 12-19 with two doubles, a home run, seven RBIs and nine runs scored.
Tesoro, ranked No. 13 in Orange County, had a 3-1 lead from the second inning until the top of the seventh. Pacifica, ranked No. 10 in the county, scored two runs on a dropped third strike and a hit batter to tie the game.
Coach Rick Brail, who founded the Tesoro Baseball program in 2001, became the charter inductee of the Tesoro Baseball Hall of Fame at the 2021 Dinner With the Titans, held on April 21st.
Career-best performance of eight scoreless innings to win his first Big West game against UC Davis, 8-0
9 of 10 South Coast/Sea View League Teams land in highly competitive D1/D2
Cleveland Indians' Shane Bieber, former Laguna Hills ace, unanimously wins American League Cy Young Award
Nieto was California's coach for 16 years and won seven league titles
Brail coached Tesoro to three league championships and to a CIF-SS championship game in 2004
10 Scots were named to the Academic All-MIAC Team
University of Alabama's Brett Auerbach (Tesoro '16) was selected as a 2020 All-American by Collegiate Baseball News
Tesoro #25 in final 2020 OC Register Rankings
Orange County all-league baseball teams 2019
Pinto named to the Register’s All-County Second Team for the 2019 season
Nick Pinto and Jeremy Hassel named to the Register’s All-County Second Team, Sam Ireland to Third Team, for the 2018 season
When Brandon Lodge (Tesoro '07) found himself in a strange land, he knew his journey had gotten weird
Tesoro Titans Baseball
Tesoro High School, 1 Tesoro Creek Rd, Rancho Santa Margarita, California 92688, United States