IRVINE — Since the Woodbridge baseball team swept Beckman last season, the Patriots have had this week circled on their calendar.
Beckman started the week off right with a 6-1 win Tuesday at home.
It was the first game of a three-game series between the teams.
The Patriots (16-5-1, 12-3-1) are tied with Northwood for first place in the Pacific Coast League standings. Beckman went 0-2-1 in its series against Northwood so a tiebreaker would go to the Timberwolves.
Woodbridge (14-8, 10-6) was the league champion last season and currently sits in third place in the standings.
“We have such a great rivalry with Woodbridge, so back in November when the schedule came out, the first team we looked for was Woodbridge,” Beckman coach Kevin Lavalle said. “We have to go home, go to bed and start all over again tomorrow.”
Lavalle turned to four-year starter Zach Ireland on the mound Tuesday. Ireland admittedly didn’t have his best stuff, but managed to allow one run in a complete-game effort with six strikeouts.
“He didn’t have a lot going for him today to be honest,” Lavalle said. “Great pitchers find a way on days like today to throw strikes and trust their stuff. He’ll read this and agree that he didn’t have his best stuff today.”
Ireland scattered eight hits and walked four. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning and stranded seven runners on base.
“I had a lot of help from my catcher Brent (Byrd) thankfully,” Ireland said. “It’s just grit, finding a way to pitch when you don’t have your best stuff.”
“It’s always good to put up a win, especially against a team like Woodbridge with so many talented players. I love competing against them.”
Ireland was aided by a four-run first inning from Beckman’s offense. Isaiah Kapur hit a two-run double in the right-center field gap to give the Patriots a 2-0 lead.
Jagger Snitko hit a run-scoring single and Alex Dorantes drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 4-0.
“Two of the hits came with two strikes and every coach preaches not to give up with two strikes,” Lavalle said. “Usually in the first inning you don’t say that’s when we won it, but that’s when we won the game today.”
Woodbridge got on the board in the second inning when Dylan Mutuc drove in Henry Uhrik with a groundout to make the score 4-1.
Byrd laid down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning that drove in a run to extend Beckman’s lead to 5-1.
Ireland scored a run in the fourth inning when Woodbridge misplayed a pop fly to the outfield.
Kapur had two hits and two runs batted in to lead Beckman’s offense. Nine of the 10 Beckman players that had a plate appearance reached base and eight of them had hits.
Nolan Stottlemyer had three hits and a double for Woodbridge. Nevan Namgoong had two hits and drew a walk.
The two teams will play Wednesday at Woodbridge and then wrap the series Friday at Beckman.
Beckman has won seven of its last eight games and was coming off a three-game sweep of Laguna Hills.
Beckman last won a Pacific Coast League championship in 2019.
“I’ve been playing varsity baseball for four years and there is something different about this team,” Ireland said. “I’ve been chasing that league title since I was a freshman and it means the world to me being in this race. It’s the best I’ve ever seen this league.”
