By David A. Willauer-Contributing Writer

Vista CA— In a a CIF Division I Tournament, lower bracket, contest played at Vista High School, the Vista Panthers improve their record to 26-6 as they scored 1 in the first, 2 in the second, 1 in the third, 6 key runs in the fourth, 2 in the fifth and withstood a late Titan rally in the sixth and seventh innings to defeated Poway(19-12) by a 12-9 score.
Vista, with a 4-1 lead through three innings, fell behind when the Titans scored 3 runs in the top of the fourth to take over the lead, 5-4.
Vista came back in the bottom of the fourth as Corey Lee lined a hit, inside the first base line, for a 3 RBI triple to go up 7-5. The Panthers scored 2 more runs on RBI singles by Ethan Morris and Eric Schweizer to go up 9-5. Schweizer scored the 10th run on a throwing error by Titan catcher Deron Johnson.
After Poway scored one run in the top of the fifth, the Panthers in the home 5th followed with 2 runs of their own as Chayler Nyenhuis lined a single into centerfield scoring 2 more runs to go up 12-6.
Poway scored 2 runs in the top of the 6th as Derek Gasworth lined a 2 RBI single in the top of the 6th and Kevin Bristow RBI single scored the 9th run to make the final score 12-9 in favor of the Panthers of Vista.
Vista Boys Head Baseball Coach, Ricky Imperiali, on the 12-9 win over Poway: ” We talked about responding and worked on what to do after trailing in key situations. We also have worked on our running and stealing bases.” continued the Panther coach “My starting pitcher, Andrew Geisler was having hard time throwing strikes so we decided to take him out of the game. We swung the bats well in the fourth inning and scored 5 runs which was very key for us today. Poway hit the ball well this afternoon which was tough for our offense but Ivan Luna did an outstanding job in relief today.”
La Jolla will visit Poway High School on Saturday, May 28, 2016 and the winner will play at Vista on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 3:30 pm.