"It could be," Coach Benji Medure said. "It’s the biggest win in nine years since I’ve been here. We won a league title in 2004 and we had some good ones that year, but I don’t think anyone believed outside of this dugout believed that we could get it done today."
The Oilers, who finished third in the Sea View League and had to play a wild-card game, now advance to the Division II semifinals at Chino Hills Tuesday. The Division II championship game is Saturday at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, at 4:30 p.m.
Huntington Beach (18-12) has never advanced to the CIF finals in baseball. They’re one win away now though, after slaying the giants from the Inland Empire.
Yucaipa, the Citrus Belt League champion, finished with a 27-3 record. The Oilers have now beaten three straight league champions in the playoffs.
"We end seasons," Cestr said. "We’ve been saying it as much as we can. We end seasons. We try to go into every game with a swagger and a confidence."
Cestr got tough Friday. After allowing back-to-back singles to open the game, he got Yucaipa senior Matt Davidson to ground into a double play to end the threat.
Then the Oilers’ bats started working. With one out in the bottom of the first, junior Sean Guite singled, and senior Beau Amaral followed with a towering home run to right for a 2-0 lead.
But they weren’t finished against Yucaipa starter Frank Martin. Jon Combest reached on an error — one of five on Yucaipa infielders — and Cestr and Buddy Johns (three for four) followed with singles to load the bases.
Jake Porter walked to force in a run. An out later, David Van Doornum reached on a wild throw to first, allowing two runs to score and staking Huntington Beach to a 5-0 lead after an inning.
