Baseball: Hernandez pitches Banning into City quarterfinals

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Sophomore left-hander Jonathan Hernandez pitched a three-hitter and scored the only run on a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning as Banning upset Palisades, 1-0, in the first round of the City Section Division I playoffs Wednesday afternoon.

Hernandez (8-3) was wild at times, with four strikeouts and three walks, but made the pitches when he needed them to outduel Dolphins ace right-hander Jon Moscot (8-4), who allowed four hits and struck out six.

‘My plan was to use my fastball and go right after each batter,’ Hernandez said. ‘I was starting to get a little tired in the last inning. When they got a man on I was just trying to make them hit a ground ball.’

With one out in the bottom of the seventh Ryan Holman drew a walk and Josh Korn took Hernandez to a 3-2 count before hitting into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Banning (18-14), seeded 11th out of 16 teams, finished third in the Marine League while No. 6 Palisades (22-10-1) had gone 18-0 in the Western League. ‘Our schedule definitely helped prepare us for the playoffs,’ Banning Coach John Gonzalez said. ‘We’re used to playing close games like this.’

Hernandez singled with one out in the top of the fourth. After a walk and a hit batter, Anthony Salas walked on four pitches to force home Hernandez. One run was all the Pilots needed to end Palisades’ 13-game winning streak and avenge a 3-2 loss to Moscot in the opening round last year.

‘If you don’t score you’re not going to win,’ Palisades Coach Mike Voelkel said. ‘Twice we had runners on second and third with one out. We had runners on first and second a couple times and couldn’t bring them in. Their center fielder made a great catch to take away a hit. So we had our opportunities.’

-- Steve Galluzzo