Postseason Bid Fading for Barons

With only one week left in the prep baseball season, the playoff picture in the Sunset League is clearing up. And Fountain Valley could be the odd team out.

The Barons’ postseason hopes were dealt a major blow Friday with an 8-5 loss to Edison.

Jon Bates belted a grand slam in the seventh inning off reliever Sam Greco (2-2) to give visiting Edison (16-8, 8-5) the victory.

“I knew I was going to hit it out,” said Bates, who had five RBIs. “I just had a feeling when the count was 3-1. I knew I was gonna get a fastball. Of course, I’m always sitting on fastball.”

Also contributing home runs for Edison were Bryce Popoff, his eighth, and Tony Cappuccilli, his 13th. Cappuccilli, the career county home-run leader (31) is two short of the county single-season record set by Laguna Hills’ Nick Harvey in 1997.

The Chargers, who are tied for second with Esperanza, clinched a playoff berth (along with first-place Los Alamitos) because they hold the tie-breaker advantage over Esperanza and Fountain Valley by winning the season series against both.

Even if the Chargers lose both games to Huntington Beach next week, they will finish no worse than third.

“This takes a lot of pressure off,” Coach Tom Duggan said. “But we still need to finish at least in second. Last year we were third and had to play a wild-card game, which I thought was wrong. This time I’d rather play a Friday [playoff] game than a Tuesday game.”

The loss was the fourth straight league defeat for Fountain Valley (16-8, 6-7), which had overcome a 3-0 Edison lead with a four-run fourth, and took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of sixth on a leadoff home run by C.J. Ray, who transferred from Edison.

The Barons are in fourth place, two games behind the Aztecs and Chargers. They must sweep the two-game series with Esperanza next week or will miss the playoffs for first time since 1990.

“We played good to win for six innings, but did not close the door on Edison in the seventh,” Baron co-Coach Chris Sorce said. “We’ve put ourselves in this hole. Now it’s up to the kids to respond.”