Hart Advances to Second Round, 11-3

Hart High could be accused of playing two seasons in 1985.

The Indians took a commanding lead in the Foothill League baseball standings by winning their first nine games. But their offense disappeared, and the Indians lost five of their last six games, forcing them to settle for a co-championship with Burroughs.

Yet a third season might have begun Friday in the first round of the 3-A playoffs as Hart whipped visiting Santa Maria, 11-3.

Hart fell behind, 1-0, in the first, but went ahead for good in its half of the inning on shortstop Jim Bonds’ three-run homer.

The Indians added two runs in the third, when starting pitcher Dave Lee singled home Mark Culbert and Sheldon Sparks.

Lee, meanwhile, was handcuffing Santa Maria hitters with his fastball and change-up. “Everything was working for me,” he said. “But in a couple of innings I was living on my change-up.

“We were ripping the ball pretty good today, and that makes me more confident. I know if I throw strikes, there’s a 90% chance that my team will make the play behind me.”

Lee, who also collected three hits, scored once and stole a base, limited the Saints to eight hits and struck out five.

One of his victims was left fielder Matt Almaguer, who he struck out three times.

“I was very frustrated,” Almaguer said. “I thought I knew what I was doing wrong, and I kept trying to do my best.”

Sparks, who stole three bases, hit a solo home run leading off the fifth.

The Indians blew the game open in the sixth, when they got five more runs off Santa Maria starter Artie Hernandez.

“My curveball was working good, but I was pitching from behind,” Hernandez said. “I tried to keep on pitching strikes, and they kept hitting fastballs.”

Santa Maria Coach Aaron Martinez said his team, a third-place repesentative in the Northern League, had Hart where it wanted.

“We’ve learned to play good when we’re behind,” he said. “We like to come from behind, but you’ve got to have the bats to do it.

“I think our pitcher lost a little confidence when Sparks hit the home run. Give them the credit. They had the bats today.”

The Indians collected 11 hits and stranded only three runners. Sparks, who walked twice and singled in addition to his homer, scored four times.

“That homer was the furthest thing from my mind,” Sparks said. “I saw he was kind of wild and I waited him out. We try to produce as many runs as we can.”

Hart stole six bases and broke Hernandez’s concentration many times by dancing off the bag and faking steals.

“We believe in playing pressure-type baseball,” Hart Coach Frank Sanchez said. “And you can’t do that unless you have somebody on.

“We try to be as aggressive as we can and not let anybody intimidate us.”

Hart (13-9) advances to the second round of the playoffs when it takes on Edgewood.