Baseball: Sidearmer Alex Zepeda makes impressive debut for Cleveland

In the pitching rich West Valley League, Reseda Cleveland added another pitcher to the equation on Friday, unveiling senior sidearmer Alex Zepeda. He’s 5 feet 7 and was an outfielder last season. New assistant coach Sid Lopez taught him how to throw from the side in the last few months, and what a debut he had.

Against Sun Valley Poly, Zepeda threw five shutout innings in the Cavaliers’ 7-0 victory. He gave up three hits and struck out two. It was an impressive performance and allowed the Cavaliers to save ace Ben Kaser for a Saturday game against Granada Hills Kennedy.

“Expect the unexpected when he pitches,” Coach Scott Drootin said. “It’s hard to see what angle he comes from. He’s pretty cool on the mound. He never pitched before.”

Sam Villa came on in relief and threw two shutout innings.

Also performing well was center fielder Austin White, who had a triple, and catcher Giovanni Cheherlian, who threw out one runner trying to steal second and picked off another runner at first.

Poly struggled in the field, failing to handle bunts and dropping a fly ball.

In another Poly Classic game, Taft’s Jayson Newman, a senior first baseman, hit three solo home runs in an 8-3 road win over Venice. Taft is 2-0. Jake Stacy hit a three-run home run.

Kennedy defeated Marshall, 2-1, on an RBI single by Estevan Rodriguez in the seventh. Juan Gonzalez and Chris Sandberg had two hits apiece.

Sylmar defeated Bell, 5-0, behind Charles Arevalo, who struck out seven and walked none in a complete-game performance. Andrew Ochoa had a double, triple and three RBIs.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer