FULLERTON – Estancia’s baseball team brings the drama whenever it plays a championship game at Cal State Fullerton.
The Eagles were trailing by two runs going into the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday. With the bases loaded, Jake Humphries launched a three-run double to right field to give Estancia a 4-3 comeback win over Marshall in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 final.
Estancia won its other CIF-SS baseball championship in dramatic fashion, too. In 2022, the Eagles beat Anaheim 2-1 in 11 innings in the Division 6 final at Cal State Fullerton.
And in these playoffs, Humphries’ base hit in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Estancia a 4-3 win over Pacifica Christian in the quarterfinals.
“It’s the only way we know how to play baseball,” said Estancia coach Nate Goellrich. “You can never count us out. It’s just kind of the grit and grind of this team.”
Estancia (20-13) and Marshall (20-7-1) qualified for the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs. The regional brackets will be released Sunday.
Marshall scored its three runs in the top of the first inning. Estancia got a run in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1.
The score stayed 3-1 through four scoreless innings for both teams, thanks to superb pitching by Estancia’s Vaughn McCrea, a 6-foot-7 senior right-hander, and Marshal senior lefty Caleb Thatcher on a very warm afternoon.
Thatcher had to be removed in the sixth inning when he reached the CIF baseball game maximum of 110 pitches. He gave up the one run, three hits, two walks and had 10 strikeouts.
McCrea hit the 110-pitch limit with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Pitching for a third consecutive game, McCrea gave up no earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and four walks.
With the score stuck at 3-1, Estancia’s Jacob Ramirez led off the bottom of the seventh with an opposite-field single to right field. Sawyer Atkinson, who was outstanding defensively at catcher Saturday, walked and Nicolas Viramontes blooped an opposite-field single to right field to load the bases.
Then came Humphries’ turn at bat. The count went to 2-2.
“I got two strikes,” said Humphries, a senior shortstop. “We’re down, and the boys are rallying. I’ve just got to poke something.”
Bottom of the 7th. Bases loaded – Jake Humphries sends it over the Marshall RF head to drive in 3 runs and win it walk-off style 4-3 over Marshall @CIFSS Division 6 baseball championship game!!! pic.twitter.com/4y4tZ7BXeE
— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) May 31, 2025
Humphries more than poked the 2-2 pitch, sending a fly that carried over the head of Marshall right fielder Jayden Gutierrez, who made a great effort to try to run it down. By the time Gutierrez retrieved the ball Ramirez had scored, Atkinson was rounding third base on his way to scoring the tying run and Viramontes was racing toward the plate for the winning run.
Humphries described the comeback win as a character win.
“It says a lot,” he said. “This team never quits. You just gotta love it.”
McCrea agreed.
“We’re always down going into the last inning,” McCrea said. “We put it together. We always pick each other up.”
Estancia scored its first run in the bottom of the second inning. With two outs Carlos Hauser walked. Hauser took second base on Athan Perez single and scored on Miles Dodge’s drive for a double.
Estancia had plenty of chances to catch up all day. The Eagles left baserunners in scoring position in the first, second, third, fifth and sixth innings.
They got another chance, in the seventh inning, and converted it into another championship, Estancia style.
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