Fountain Valley baseball edges Edison to complete series sweep
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Tyler Peshke seems to be doing everything for Fountain Valley these days — that’s not so, but still — as it has earned a spot among the Sunset League’s top four baseball teams, good enough for a CIF Southern Section playoff berth should that hold.
The New Mexico State-bound senior shortstop/pitcher was the chief force in a sweep this week of arch-rival Edison that sends the Barons (11-6 overall, 5-3 in league) streaking into the toughest portion of its schedule with five straight wins, three of them by one run, and growing self-belief.
Peshke has led the charge. In Friday’s 4-3 victory over the visiting Chargers (9-9, 2-7), he scored and drove in Fountain Valley’s first two runs, kicked off the winning sequence with two out in the fifth inning, then took the mound to close it down in the seventh. His three-run home run ignited Wednesday’s 9-1 rout, and he was two for three with a run bated in and another save in Tuesday’s 6-1 win.
Throw in two victories the week before over Corona del Mar, and in the last five outings he’s 9 for 14 with four runs scored, nine RBIs, two homers, three stolen bases and four saves. He also collaborated on four double plays against Edison.
“Great kid, great family,” Barons head coach Gerardo Gonzalez said. “It’s good to see him finally start to become the player we know he can be. He’s a tremendously talented player, great kid, works hard, and he’s really been coming through for us the last couple of weeks. He’s starting to really [emerge] as a team leader.
“He put a lot of pressure on himself to do well and please everybody else, and I think he’s kind of calmed down and feels more comfortable in his own shoes. Now he’s really looking forward to those big moments and [making them his], which is something he should do.”
It comes at a crucial juncture. Fountain Valley heads into its bye week before successive three-game series with Newport Harbor (10-4, 6-3), Marina (8-9, 1-5) and Los Alamitos (13-3-2, 6-3) set up a May 6 finale against seven-time defending league champion Huntington Beach (12-1, 8-0).
“It’s always big to sweep a team, especially in this league and how tough it is, and to pull it off against our rival is pretty sweet, I’m not going to lie,” said Gonzalez, who has guided the Barons to the postseason the past two years and three of four (with three playoff victories) since the pandemic. “We knew we were behind the eight-ball a little bit [after two losses to Huntington Beach and another in the series opener with CdM], so this puts us in a good playoff position.
“That’s our No. 1 thing. We want to fight our way to get into the playoffs and then maybe get ourselves into position to maybe fight for a league championship.”
That’s a mighty goal. This is, he says, Benji Medure’s most talented group at Huntington Beach, the consensus No. 3 team in the nation. The Oilers are repeatedly pulling out close games, with six of their league wins by one or two runs, and capable of sweeping everyone.
“They might,” Gonzalez said. “They had a tough couple games against some teams, but it’s very difficult to go undefeated in this league, and they’re going to have to go through Los Al still, and Los Al’s a very good team, and so’s Corona del Mar, and so is Newport Harbor. Hopefully, someone gives us a little help to do what we’re supposed to do.”
Peshke provided a short-lived second-inning lead Friday, walking to lead off, taking second on Anthony Zamora’s bunt, and coming home on the first of two RBI singles from Mater Dei transfer Ethan Cortez.
Edison went ahead in the top of third, as Mason Gerhardt drove in Hayden Cato and scored on Shane Timmons’ infield single. But Peshke’s two-out, two-strike, line-drive single to center brought home Isaac Lomeli to make it 2-2 in the bottom of the inning.
Fountain Valley senior right-hander Logan Hunt, a Los Alamitos transfer, was nearly perfect, the third inning aside. He nimbly escaped that one, getting a bases-loaded strikeout after surrendering three singles and a walk with two out. Aside from that, Edison’s Jordan Alvarez was doubled up to end the first inning after a one-out single, and Hunt went 1-2-3 in the second, fourth and fifth innings, striking out the side in the fourth.
Peshke got things going in the pivotal fifth, working Chargers right-hander Timmons to a full count with two out and singling up the middle. Zamora was plunked on a full count, and Peshke came home with the go-ahead run as Cortez, a junior catcher, singled to left field. A wild pitch advanced the runners, Octavio Gomez drew a full-count walk to load the bases, and Isaac Grimaldo’s high-bouncer up the middle scored Zamora.
Edison halved the deficit in the sixth, as Gavin Johnson doubled and pinch-runner Xavier Shoda scored on Cody Kruis’ bases-loaded sacrifice fly. Alvarez got his third single in the seventh, but Peschke closed the game out.
“We just got to keep it rolling,” Peshke said. “It’s a long league, three games a week. If we stay focused, we’ll be fine. Sunset League’s tough, but I think we’ll be fine.”
Edison has Marina, CdM and Huntington Beach left to close out league play.
“[Being swept is] the one thing that can’t happen,” Edison coach Nick Cappuccilli said. “I told our guys all we can do is take care of our business and worry about what we can do and let the chips fall where they may at this point, but we have to come out ready to compete everyday and take care of our side of the ball and put pressure on defenses and do our job.”
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