Baseball: Norco wins on Hobgood’s home run in eighth inning
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It’s time opposing teams started treating Matt Hobgood of Norco like major league teams did with Barry Bonds. In other words, start walking him.
On Tuesday, Hobgood’s two-run home run in the eighth inning gave top-seeded Norco a 3-1 victory over Temecula Valley in the Southern Section Division I playoffs. It was Hobgood’s 21st home run of the season. He also came in and pitched the eighth in relief of Wes Hatton.
And his home run didn’t come off just an average pitcher. It came off USC-bound Brooks Pounder.
It sets up the game of the year on Friday in a quarterfinal matchup, Norco at Santa Ana Mater Dei, which defeated Tesoro, 7-4. It will be Aaron Northcraft pitching against Hobgood, who has only nine innings of pitching eligibility left this week.
-- Eric Sondheimer