Elsinore baseball team beats Tahquitz, takes lead in Mountain Pass League title race

WILDOMAR - Tahquitz pitcher Deven McDaniel tossed a two-hit shutout when he faced the Elsinore baseball team last month. McDaniel was sharp again Thursday afternoon, striking out seven batters in another complete-game effort against the Tigers.

This time, however, Elsinore’s Jacob Farias outdueled McDaniel with a two-hit shutout of his own. The Tigers scratched across one run in the fourth inning, and Farias made it stand up in a 1-0 victory that gave Elsinore sole possession of first place in the Mountain Pass League.

Elsinore (17-3 overall, 8-1 i n league) won the season series 2-1 and has a half-game lead on Tahquitz (13-6-1, 8-2) with a handful of games remaining in the regular season.

“Tahquitz didn’t have to play a lot of defense against us the last time we faced McDaniel, but our approaches were so much better today. Our goal was to either hit the ball on the ground or get on top and drive it and we were pretty good at that,” Elsinore coach Don Nicholson said. “We think our pitchers will give us an opportunity to win games again in a higher playoff division but the question is can we scratch out enough runs against that kind of pitching?”

McDaniel had struck out six in a row starting and had a no-hitter going before Sam Poirer’s bloop double in the fourth inning with one out broke it up. Ivan Huerta’s RBI single up the middle came on the first pitch of the at-bat with two outs. Farias followed it up with a single of his own but Tyler Willeford grounded out as McDaniel avoided the big inning.

Tahquitz’s best chance to break through against Farias came in the top of the sixth inning. Jayden Bartlett led off the inning with a single and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, the Titans elected to send the runner and Bartlett was caught stealing at third base to end the inning.

The Titans had a runner or runners on in four of seven frames but couldn’t punch through. Elsinore had a runner or runners on in three of their six at-bats during Thursday’s game.

Farias walked one and finished with five strikeouts Thursday afternoon.

“When you have two starters like myself and Deven it comes down to whose offense takes advantage of a break that falls their way,” Farias said. “Our offense was not the best today, but we’re confident that we can put the runs up when the curtain is pulled to start the playoffs next month.”

Elsinore continues Mountain Pass League play by hosting Temescal Canyon on Tuesday. Tahquitz plays Riverside Poly in a non-league game Saturday morning, and then travels to San Jacinto for a league game Tuesday.

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This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 9:53 AM.