RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA >> The Tesoro baseball team used a fourth-inning rally Tuesday to beat El Modena 6-4 in the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 semifinals at Tesoro High.

Tesoro (24-8) has reached the CIF championship game for the first time since 2004. The Titans will play Fullerton on Friday or Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.

The Titans were one game away from making the playoffs last season, and this season they had to win three of their final four games to qualify for the playoffs.

“It’s just amazing for our program,” Tesoro coach Tony Nieto said. “We have had that playoff mentality since beating Capo Valley a few weeks ago. I’m proud of this group. Fullerton is a good team and I hope we can finish it up.”

There was a large crowd in attendance Tuesday that included athletes from various other sports.

“It’s been a championship spring at Tesoro so far with volleyball (winning a CIF-SS title) and now us and softball playing for championships,” Nieto said. “Tesoro is a special place and we support all of them and they support all of us.”

The score was tied 2-2 in the fourth inning and Tesoro had the bases loaded with no outs and its star hitter Jackson Freeman coming up to bat. Freeman hit a two-run single to the opposite side to give the Titans the lead.

Justin Simard and Nate Molinari each hit run-scoring singles in the inning to give Tesoro a 6-2 lead.

“We have so much confidence in Freeman and when he steps up with people on base we feel like there’s something special in his bat,” Nieto said. “We had contributions all through the lineup and we feel like we can battle against anybody.”

Freeman went 2 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs. Simard went 1 for 3 with two RBIs and the Tesoro lineup drew seven walks.

Tesoro got solid performances from its pitching staff without using its ace Coleton Dahl. Ryan Rios pitched into the fifth inning and allowed three runs. Seth Wood and Josh Ferry gave up no earned runs in middle relief and closer Jake Lambdin had a scoreless seventh inning.

“All he does is throw strikes and get soft contact. He did what he needed to do today,” Nieto said of Rios. “It was awesome to get seniors Seth Wood and Josh Ferry in there because they helped us get here. And Lambdin did what he always does.”

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El Modena (22-10) had seven hits but made outs on the base paths and had trouble getting hits with two outs. Nick Aufdemberg had a RBI single in the first inning and Cameron Langseth had a RBI single in the sixth.

Ryan Osso and Drew Rodriguez each had two hits for the Vanguards. Jackson Licata drove in a run in the first inning on a groundout.

Tesoro is 3-0 against Fullerton in its school history and most recently beat the Indians 15-2 last season.