Ozawa-Burns bashes two 8th-inning bombs to rally WVC past Cañada 11-8

Curran Ozawa-Burns rounds third his second homer in the bottom of the eighth.
Curran Ozawa-Burns rounds third after his second homer in the bottom of the eighth.

Curran Ozawa-Burns hit a pair of home runs in the bottom of an eight-run eighth inning to help West Valley to an 11-8 comeback win over Cañada Thursday at Valhalla.

The Vikings trailed 8-3 when Ozawa-Burns stepped to the plate to lead off the eighth. He sent a solo shot to deep left to inch WVC closer at 8-4. Kyle Hartmanis doubled and scored on Jacob Serpa's double two batters later. Back-to-back E5's brought home three more WVC runs to tie it at 8-8. Jacob Dressler reached on one of those errors, and a Henry Wright single set the table for Ozawa-Burns' second at-bat of the inning. He sent a two-out, one-one pitch to deep center underneath the scoreboard for his second round-tripper of the inning and an 11-8 lead for the Vikings. Josiah Granados struck out the side in the ninth to end it in his first collegiate appearance on the mound.

A Kimo Fukofuka two-run HR gave the Colts a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but a Henry Wright solo HR made it 2-1 through one. A Logan Reulman sacrifice fly scored Aran Cox and made it 2-2 after two. Cañada added two more in the third for a 4-1 Colt lead, but a Weston Scoffone RBI single closed the gap to 4-3 in the fourth.

The Colts added a run in the sixth and three in the top of the eighth for an 8-3 lead that set the stage for the eight-run Viking eighth.

Ozawa-Burns finished the day 3-for-5 with four RBI. Through Thursday, he leads the state with five homers and 21 RBI. Wright went 2-for-5 and Cox was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. C.J. Roulo picked up the win in relief and Granados earned the save.