Orange County Prep Baseball : Sonora Goes Nine to Get to Greer : Troy Left-hander Gives Up 5 Runs to End Duel With Bird

A pitcher’s duel between David Bird and Mike Greer ended in the ninth inning Wednesday when Sonora High School erupted for five runs to gain a 5-0 Freeway League victory at Fullerton.

Going into the ninth, Troy’s Greer had matched Bird, one of Orange County’s best pitchers, for most of the game. He had allowed three hits compared with Bird’s six.

But Greer’s masterful performance ended in the ninth. He walked leadoff hitter Mitch Kaylor, and Rob Stuart tripled to right. Scott Einhorn then singled home Stuart for a 2-0 lead.

Einhorn later scored from third base on a wild pitch and two batters later, Ron Lesperance hit a two-run homer.

Bird got Greer, the last batter he faced, to hit a dribbler back to the mound to end the game.

“That kid (Greer) threw a great ballgame,” said Gordon Blakely, Sonora coach. “I’d hate to be Mike Greer right now--he kept a good offensive team completely off guard. It’s too bad either pitcher had to lose this one.

“We saw him the first time around and beat him, 5-1, but even then we really didn’t get anything solid off of him. He looked like he had even better stuff today. Neither pitcher really got tired out there. Birdy even seemed to get better as he went along.”

The left-handed Bird (7-0) finished with a six-hit shutout, including 12 strikeouts and only one walk. Sonora is 6-o and 15-1.

Troy (3-3 and 5-5) threatened to score only once, in the fourth inning, when the Warriors had runners at second and third with one out. But Bird struck out the next batter and then induced an infield popup to end the inning.

In other Freeway action:

Fullerton 16, Buena Park 8--Left-hander Jeff Middlebrooks (3-1) pitched the last 5 innings for the Indians (4-2, 11-3) after starter Dean Strong was hit in the kneecap by a line drive in the second inning. The Indians’ Jeff Bailey hit a grand slam in the second inning and a solo homer in the fifth. With a third hit, he had a total of six RBIs. Teammate John Mele had three hits, including a three-run homer and six RBIs. For the Coyotes (0-6, 1-10), Paul Bunch went 3 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs. The losing pitcher was Stan Perryman.

La Habra 8, Sunny Hills 4--The Highlanders scored three runs in the second inning and five in the third inning to overtake the Lancers at La Habra. Jason Reefe struck out eight en route to the win. La Habra is 3-3 and 5-8. Sunny Hills is 3-3 and 6-8.