GARDEN GROVE — A comfortable lead suddenly turned tenuous for the Cypress baseball team in the final inning of its Empire League finale against Pacifica on Thursday at Pacifica High School.

A four-run lead shrunk to two and the Mariners had the bases loaded with no outs when Connor Artasere came in to pitch. He got three consecutive outs to secure a 5-3 victory for the Centurions.

After losing their first league game, 4-3, against Tustin on March 13, the Centurions (18-9-1, 9-1) won nine league games in a row to capture their 12th league title in a row.

Cypress trailed Pacifica (18-8, 8-2) by one game entering this week, but defeated the Mariners 4-0 on Tuesday to set up a showdown for first place on Thursday.

Three key contributors to the Cypress baseball team’s 5-3 victory over Pacifica on Thursday, April 25, were, from left, pitcher Aiden Franco (29), outfielder Greg Prophet (6) and Justin Tillar (13). (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

The Centurions, who are ranked No. 12 in Orange County, and the No. 9 Mariners will go into the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs as the Empire League’s first and second place teams, respectively.

In the seventh, the Mariners loaded the bases on an error, a double and catcher’s interference and then scored on a hit batter and walk to get to within two runs, 5-3.

“You have an early lead … There’s a little bit of comfort that goes into that,” Cypress coach John Weber said. “And then you kind of lose your fine focus on the things that get you to the point, and you start to take things for granted.”

Artasere, who had pitched seven innings all season, came in and struck out the first two hitters he faced.

No. 3 hitter Nolan Caira then hit a long fly ball to center that was chased down and caught by right fielder Greg Prophet to end the game.

“Me and my outfielders were just talking, saying when the ball is hit, you want to be that guy to get the ball,” Prophet said. “We were all just like, I want this ball hit to us. That’s exactly what happened. It was just one of those plays where you put your head down and you run and you look up and hopefully you get it.”

Prophet has been playing in the outfield for only the last two weeks, Weber said.

The Centurions scored four runs in the third, with the first two coming on an error and a passed ball with a runner on third.

After a walk to Nicky Montgomery, Justin Tillar hit a two-run home run to give the Centurions a 4-0 lead.

The Mariners got one run back with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the third.

Cypress had the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth when Spencer Kwon scored from third on a double play to give the Centurions a 5-1 lead.

Cypress starter Aiden Franco allowed four hits and one earned run over six innings.

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