Baseball: Lopez comes on in relief and picks up win for Bell

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Bell senior left-hander Samir Lopez showed promise as a sophomore in 2006. But last year, his junior season was derailed by shoulder injuries.

On Thursday, Lopez (1-0) looked fully recovered against visiting North Hollywood. He entered the RBI tournament game after Eagles starting pitcher Brian Rocha was pulled after the first inning by school administrators for disciplinary reasons.

Lopez pitched the rest of the game, allowing one of the Huskies’ two hits as Bell whipped North Hollywood, 9-0. The game was a close affair until the bottom of the sixth, when the Eagles erupted for eight runs against starter Andrew Gutierrez and reliever Jonathan Linares.

But the joy for Bell (6-1) was the performance by Lopez, who began the season as a long reliever. Lopez struck out seven and walked one.

‘As a 10th grader he was our ace, our go-to guy,’ said assistant coach Marco Villasenor, who ran the team today in place of Coach Dave Shemwell, who was attending an off-campus event.

‘Last year, we couldn’t put him in because of his shoulder. Now he’s getting back into the swing of things.’

If Lopez is all the way back, he gives Bell more than just a shot in the arm. He gives them a great arm.

-- Mike Terry

-- Image from www.forgottendelights.com