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    Mission Viejo baseball boosts league title hopes with win over El Toro
    • April 23, 2026

    MISSION VIEJO – Behind a sharp curve ball and some timely small-ball with an occasional big hit mixed in, Mission Viejo’s baseball team took a huge step toward winning the Sea View League title Wednesday.

    Pitcher Caleb Tucker pitched six strong innings and allowed only five five hits to lift Mission Viejo to a 3-2 victory over El Toro.

    “He did a phenomenal job, and threw two pitches for a strike any time in the count, which made it difficult,” El Toro coach Michael Gonzalez said of Tucker, who was relieved in the seventh by Jackson Stonebarger. “They don’t give up a lot of runs, their pitching’s been really good all year. We just didn’t have it offensively.”

    Mission Viejo (14-8 overall, 5-3 in league) is alone in first place with four league games remaining, including Friday’s game at El Toro. The Diablos are ranked No. 25 in Orange County. Next week they play Capistrano Valley.

    The Chargers, who play their final league game Friday, have dropped to 5-6 in league.

    El Toro (11-11-1 overall), ranked No. 17 in Orange County, can’t win the Sea View title. The Chargers will face No. 15 San Clemente (15-8) next week in three nonleague games.

    “We made it difficult for ourselves,” Gonzalez said. “We can only get to 6-6. If we lose Friday, there’s probably a good chance we won’t be in the playoffs. We’ll see what happens with the rest of the league, but we have to be above .500 and we’re 11-11 right now, and we have three against San Clemente, which is a really good team.”

    It should be a lot easier for Mission Viejo. It beat the Chargers 6-5 on Tuesday with a come-from-behind victory by scoring three in the sixth and holding off the Chargers in the seventh.

    Mission led from the start Wednesday, getting a couple of runs batted in by cleanup hitter Aiden Chapuis. He is also the team’s ace on the mound. He will start Friday’s game against El Toro.

    His sacrifice fly in the first inning scored leadoff batter Robert Nestor with a run that was good for the confidence of Tucker. A third-inning single scored Nestor for a 2-0 lead.

    Tucker felt confident after the first run and was nearly invincible after the second.

    “I felt pretty confident, we’ve been in that situation before,” Tucker said. “Defense has had our back all season long. It was pretty important to get that first run across. It gave us energy because we knew we could put up more later in the game. I felt pretty confident about our chances.”

    Mission Viejo's Caleb Tucker pitched six innings and allowed five hits in the Diablos' 3-2 victory over El Toro in a Sea View League game Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (Photo by Martin Henderson)
    Mission Viejo’s Caleb Tucker pitched six innings and allowed five hits in the Diablos’ 3-2 victory over El Toro in a Sea View League game Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (Photo by Martin Henderson)

    Mission Viejo added another run in the fourth inning when Joey Pallone scored on No. 9 batter Carson Browning’s safety squeeze. That made it 3-0 against Chargers lefty starter Max Smith.

    “The bunt was perfectly executed to get us that extra run,” Mission Viejo coach Dan Holley said. “It was huge.”

    That has, more or less, been the way the Diablos do it.

    “Kind of our whole season, we’ve been pitching very well, play great defense, so every game is a close game,” Holley said. “We’re not giving up many runs, but unfortunately we haven’t scored as many as I’d like throughout the season. Every game, the boys have been playing under a lot of intensity, a lot of pressure, throughout the whole season. When we get into those situations, I feel very confident because they’ve been through it before and know what to do.”

    El Toro rallied in the sixth. Isaac Lopez doubled at the bottom of the order, then Gavin Broesamle doubled at the top. Broesamle scored on Brayden Penrod’s grounder to shortstop.

    “He did a phenomenal job, and threw two pitches for a strike any time in the count, which made it difficult,” Gonzalez said of Tucker. “They don’t give up a lot of runs, their pitching’s been really good all year. We just didn’t have it offensively.”

     

     Orange County Register 

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