Baseball: Hamilton stays unbeaten in Western League

A four-run seventh inning, helped by four Palisades errors, propelled Hamilton to an 8-4 victory over the Dolphins on Tuesday and a two-game lead in the Western League.

Hamilton (19-2, 7-0) received a strong pitching performance from Matt Kaplan, who limited Palisades to four hits while striking out five. Palisades pitcher Jed Moscot struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings, but he was the victim of defensive lapses in the seventh.

Leadoff man Christian Amador finished with three hits for Hamilton and drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh with an RBI single.

Benji Kaiserman got the Yankees started off well with a three-run home run off Moscot in the first inning that hit the scoreboard in right field.

Both teams had defensive stumbles, and that will need to be corrected if either expects to excel in next month’s City Section Division I playoffs against top teams from the West Valley and Valley Mission leagues.

But Hamilton hung tough and was able to overcome a 4-3 deficit, with Matthew Allen delivering the game-tying RBI single in the sixth.

In the Marine League, Daniel Rocha (7-1) struck out 11 in Narbonne’s 6-1 win over Banning. He laso had two hits, including an RBI double. Jonathan Saldana went three for three. San Pedro defeated Carson, 4-3.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer