In Friday night’s San Diego Division Open Division Championship game at UC San Diego, the La Costa Canyon High baseball team was hit afterthought in a win.

In the first round of the Southern California Division I Regional Playoffs on Tuesday, the Mavericks put 15 runners on base but couldn’t get a timely hit and fell 5-1 to Huntington Beach.

“The goal all year was to win the San Diego championship,” said LCC second baseman Nolan Farley, who was on base three times and drove in the lone run for the third-seeded Mavericks. series (24-11).

“We were 12-8 at one point in the season. But we changed our attitude, changed our focus, and we became the best team in San Diego.

“Of course it hurts that we lost. We had guys everywhere, but we just couldn’t get that big hit.

“But this loss does not take away from what we have achieved.”

The LCC faced UCLA-bound southpaw Ben Jacobs, whose fastball was 91 mph.

In six innings, he allowed three hits, hit a pair of batters, walked one and struck out five.

“He had a serious bike, but we did better against him than against the other hard pitcher we faced,” Farley said.

The reference was to Canyon Crest Academy southpaw Sam Garewal, who knocked out 14 Mavericks.

Matt Lopez came on as a relief in the seventh for Huntington Beach and ran the bases loaded, bringing the even run to home plate.

But the match ended on a grounder in the second.

The Mavericks left 10 runners on base — seven in scoring position.

“It was a tough game,” LCC coach Justin Machado said. “We had a tough league game on Friday. They lost in the semi-finals and hadn’t played for a week. They were rested and they are very good, very well trained.

“Yet we were there. One big hit and it could have been a different game.

Huntington Beach (23-9), seeded No. 6, advances to face Villa Park, seeded No. 7, who stunned No. 2 Bakersfield Stockdale.

Sophomore right-hander Stunner Gonzalez started and threw five good innings for LCC, allowing two runs on four hits, getting nine outs.

The Mavericks are firing 15 players from this year’s team.

“We are a young team, and these tough games will help us next season,” Machado said.

“I am proud of our season. These guys have been fighting all season. Work hard.

“And they will work hard in the offseason to improve.

“It’s a shame that we couldn’t get the clutch going today. But it’s baseball.

In other games involving teams from the San Diego Division:

First division: No. 8 Granite Hills fell 5-2 to No. 1 San Juan Capistrano JSerra.

Part II: No. 6 Rancho Bernardo beat No. 3 Torrance 2-1 and will face No. 2 Torrey Pines, who beat Palos Verdes 1-0.

Section III: No 1 Eastlake cruised past No 8 Riverside La Sierra 9-1 and will host No 5 Newport Harbor on Thursday. No. 6 Grossmont upset No. 3 La Quinta 5-3. No. 7 Francis Parker lost to No. 2 Westlake Village Oaks Christian 6-5. Oaks Christian will host Grossmont on Thursday.

Section IV: No. 8 Mission Bay lost 1-0 to No. 1 Las Flores Tesoro. No. 7 Mar Vista fell 4-2 to No. 2 Fullerton.

Section V: No. 6 Palo Verde Valley lost 1-0 to No. 3 Baldwin Park.