MISSION VIEJO – Brett Slymen was cruising. Like a Ferrari mowing past Mission Viejo batters like they were fence posts along the highway, the Capistrano Valley Christian pitcher was in charge, in command, in control.

And then the gas tank went empty. The pitch count dried up. And after Slymen left the game in the sixth inning with one out and a runner on first, CVC tried to get home in the family station wagon.

It was no match for the fence posts. The wagon went off the rails and Mission Viejo came back from a five-run deficit over the last two innings to beat Capo Valley Christian, 8-7, in a nonleague game Wednesday.

Both teams – Mission Viejo is ranked No. 19 in the Register’s Top 25, Capo Valley Christian is No. 22 – are now 6-5 overall.

The winning hit came from a sophomore who isn’t old enough to drive. But Sam Ursulo did drive in the winning run with a hard smash to right-center field in the bottom of the seventh inning that left the Eagles stunned.

It was only the second hit this season for Ursulo, who had struggled with a .056 batting average. He admitted afterward that his confidence was low coming into the game. But he took hope from the faith of his coaches and teammates. And then he delivered for them in a way that, he thinks and hopes, will change the rest of the season.

“Yeah, biggest hit of my career,” Ursulo said. “At the end, I knew what I had to do: Stay simple, look for the right pitch to drive, and get the winning run in.”

He did exactly that, tearing into a Luke Pippen offering and pulling the game-winner to right field. It was vastly different from the sixth inning, when he was pinch-hit for by Jacob Ramirez, who drew a bases-loaded walk.

Slymen finished with 5 1/3 innings, two runs, three hits, three walks and four strikeouts. He entered the game with 27 strikeouts and one walk in 21 innings.

Left-handed junior Wyatt Dunlap pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief to help Mission Viejo rally for an 8-7 nonleague victory over Capistrano Valley Christian on Wednesday, March 19. (Photo by Martin Henderson)

Although Ursulo got all the attaboys at the end, it was the performance of left-handed junior Wyatt Dunlap who helped get them there. He entered the game in relief of Carson Browning with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the second inning, trailing, 4-0.

Jack Gallo – who had two hits, two runs, and two RBIs – immediately stole home for a 5-0 advantage, but Dunlap pitched through the sixth and was mostly brilliant before giving way to ace Aiden Chapuis. He got the win by pitching a 1-2-3 seventh that included two strikeouts.

“Every time I’m on the mound, I’m as locked in as I can be,” said Dunlap after going 4 1/3 innings in what appeared to be a mop-up role. However, it turned into much more than that as he allowed only two earned runs on two hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. His performance was a nice audition to become one of the Diablos’ starters when league begins in a couple of weeks.

Dunlap’s only real struggle took place in the sixth inning when he gave up two runs with two outs: A walk, an infield single, and a two-run single down the left field line by Braden Butler. “I was upset at myself for allowing those runs,” he said. “But we never give up.”

Those runs gave Capo Valley Christian a 7-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth.

But Mission Viejo coach Daniel Holley has been preaching a culture of resiliency. And the Diablos have bought into it. Or they should after Wednesday’s performance.

“They just lived through it,” Holley said afterward. “We’ve faced some really good starting pitching, and (Slymen) is one of the best. But if we take some long at-bats, get the pitch counts up, get them out of the game and get to those bullpen arms, we can win. We may not have Georgia Tech arms, but we can throw strikes.”

And that’s how Mission came back. Mission Viejo relievers threw strikes and Capo Valley Christian’s relievers didn’t.

Slymen had talked his way past the 90-pitch count he was on, but walked Joey Pallone to lead off the sixth – his third walk in two innings. After a grounder to shortstop, Slymen was pulled after 94 pitches. CVC used four pitchers to get the final five outs. Eleven of the first 13 pitches by three different relievers were balls, including the first nine. Collectively, the Eagles bullpen walked six, hit two, and gave up three singles and five runs.

Logan Marsee and Luke Nestor – batting ninth – had RBIs in the sixth inning.

After a walk, hit batsman, and intentional walk, Chapuis singled to left for one run, setting the stage for Ursulo’s spotlight moment.

“This is a good thing if we can learn from it,” said Bonilla, who hopes this level of competition will ready Capo Valley Christian for a 15th consecutive league title. “They learned you have to throw strikes. They just saw it live. It’s a cliché, but you can’t defend a walk, and nobody can hit a five-run home run.

“I think we’re going to be an exciting team to watch. For a small school, we have a bigger school baseball mentality. The guys enjoy competing against the best in the county. We’ve just got to figure a couple of things out.”

Like keeping the station wagon on the road.

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