Santa Maria can’t hold late lead and fall in CIF title game at Bakersfield Christian

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Santa Maria High School seemed poised to win their second CIF baseball title in five years.

After a 4-run fifth inning the Saints led at #1 seed Bakersfield Christian 6-3 in the CIF-Central Section Division 4 championship game.

But the home Eagles erupted for 11 runs the rest of the way and celebrated a 14-6 title game victory.

Bakersfield Christian took advantage of some Santa Maria miscues to score four runs in the bottom of the fifth to grab a 7-6 lead.

The Eagles then put the game away in the next inning as they scored 7 runs after there were two outs.

Santa Maria's big fifth inning was highlighted by a safety squeeze by Luis Guerrero to score Raymond Rodriguez and when the Eagles threw the ball away at first Joseph Ybarra also scored to put the Saints up 4-3.

The Saints (18-10) added on in that inning with run-scoring singles from Justin Gutierrez and Enrique Figueroa.

The Saints won the 2017 CIF-Southern Section Division 6 title.