Pals Coe, Burrill Bring Valencia Of Age Against Rio Mesa, 7-1

OXNARD — Longtime friends Ryan Coe and Brady Burrill grew up together.

And together they are helping the Valencia High baseball program grow.

Coe, a senior right-hander, pitched a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts, and Burrill, a senior catcher, had two hits and two runs batted in during Valencia’s 7-1 victory over Rio Mesa in a Southern Section Division II first-round playoff game Friday at Hueneme High.

The victory marked an important step in the maturation of the Valencia program. The Vikings, in their third season of varsity competition, were playing in their first playoff game.

“Oh, this win was huge,” Coe said. “Without a doubt, this is the biggest victory in our school’s history. It was our first playoff game, our first playoff win. I feel just fantastic.”

Coe and Burrill had good reason to be charged up.

The Vikings (17-10), the third-place team from the Foothill League, advanced to the second round and will face La Mirada on Tuesday. Coe (5-0) shackled Channel League champion Rio Mesa (21-8) with an effective mixture of curves and fastballs that kept the Spartans off-balance until the last inning.

He surrendered one hit, struck out 10 and walked one through six innings before giving up the run in the seventh.

“They were a good team, and I still don’t see a weakness in their lineup, one through nine,” Coe said. “But I felt confident and I just told myself to be calm, keep the ball low and get the outs.”

By the time he was through with his second complete game, he had the Spartans talking to themselves.

Coe struck out at least two batters in each of the last five innings, including the side in the fifth.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to him,” Rio Mesa Coach Rich Duran said. “I think we were ready, but then you have to look at what did. He pitched a great game and just shut us down.”

While Coe kept the Spartans in check, Burrill sparked Valencia with run-scoring singles in the third and sixth innings.

The first hit, to right field, drove in Chris Northway and staked Coe to a 3-0 lead against starter Ernie Borjas (10-2). The second hit, to left field, brought in Northway with the Vikings’ final run.

“We were actually talking about this together on the bus,” Burrill said. “And Ryan said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to lose this game.’ We just weren’t going to let it happen. We knew we could compete with these guys.”

That they did.

Valencia scored three runs in the fifth inning against reliever Greg Ramirez on two hits, two walks and a hit batter.

“We came through when we needed to,” Valencia Coach Dennis Mifflin said. “This is a big win for us.”

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Hart Burned by Villa Park

Hart High, top-ranked by The Times in the region and seeded No. 2 in the Southern Section Division II baseball playoffs, yielded three runs in the top of the seventh inning and was upset by Villa Park, 9-7.

Southern Section Roundup, C15