Newport Beach PONY rallies to stun Escondido

The last time a Newport Beach Baseball Assn. Bronco-11 team advanced to the PONY West Zone Southern California Super Region tournament, Escondido was the team that eliminated the locals.

That Newport Beach team two years ago is different than the 2018 squad, but Newport Beach still faced Escondido again Thursday night in the opener of the Bronco-11 Super Region tournament at York Field in Whittier.

This time, Newport Beach flipped the script. The local team came from behind for a 5-3 victory in a marathon game that ended at 10:33 p.m.

The Tridents will play Elsinore in a winner’s bracket game on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Only two teams in the 16-team tournament will advance to the West Zone tournament beginning July 19 in Walnut.

Escondido took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning Thursday night. Jaxson Jenkins drew a one-out walk, stole second and third and scored on an infield single by Mason Garris, a ball that deflected off the glove of Newport Beach starting pitcher Brady Andrews. Evan Slama followed with a single to deep center before Garris scored on a sacrifice fly by Brock Young.

Brady Annett manufactured a run for Newport in the bottom of the second inning. He hit a two-out single to center, stole second and third and scored on a throwing error. But after Escondido added a run in the top of the third for a 3-1 advantage, Newport Beach couldn’t capitalize after Will Chavez and Garrett Ip both walked leading off the bottom of the frame.

Escondido brought on relief pitcher Jake Fleming, who got out of the jam, stranding the runners at second and third respectively.

Newport Beach tied the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Ganon Overfelt was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a single to right by Annett, who then scored on an RBI groundout by Andrew Niccol.

Reliever Brady Gadol got out of a bases-loaded, no outs situation in the top of the fifth for the Tridents. Gadol then scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning after an RBI groundout by Jackson McDonald.

Matthew Melton scored an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a wild pitch. Gadol then worked around a leadoff baserunner in the seventh, striking out two Escondido players before inducing a fly ball to end the game.

Annett and Gadol both had two hits for the winners.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo