Northwood High pitcher Kevin Okuda limited Irvine to one run over six innings and smacked three hits to lead the Timberwolves to a 2-1 victory over the Vaqueros in a Pacific Coast League baseball game Tuesday at Irvine.

Okuda (5-3) struck out three and did not walk a batter as Northwood (11-3, 17-8) remained in first place in league. With a win in its final regular season game over Irvine today, Northwood will win the league title.

The Vaqueros (7-7, 12-13) remained in a battle with University for third place.

Trailing 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, Irvine had a golden opportunity to tie or win the game. Mikey Filia led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk off Timberwolves' reliever Jack Pabich. Tanner Moore then drilled a single – his third of the game - to right. Filia moved to third on the play but Tanner Moore was thrown out trying to advance to second base.

On the single, a throw by right fielder Ojo Weiss went to third baseman Max Gleit who relayed a throw to Okuda, who had moved from pitcher to play second base. Okuda then tagged out Moore at second base for the first out of the inning.

"That was a big play; Max made a heads up play," said Okuda.

Pabich then got pinch-hitter Nick Tingirides to ground out to third for the second out while holding Filia at third. Pabich then retired Evan Dossett on a popup to end the game. Pablich earned his fifth save of the season.

"You win games like that by outworking the other team," said Northwood coach Rob Stuart.

Brett Denamur gave the Timberwolves a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning with a one-out, two-run single.

"It was stressful and rewarding," said Denamur. "It was a good pitch and I wanted to hit the ball hard somewhere."

Irvine took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Moore doubled and scored on Dossett's RBI single. Andrew Reynoso pitched a complete game for the Vaqueros, gave up seven hits but took the loss. "We didn't play with a sense of urgency," said Irvine coach Keith Szczudlak.