4-A Baseball Playoffs : El Dorado’s Petredes Pitches 2nd Shutout to Beat Bishop Amat

El Dorado High School displayed all the ingredients of a championship baseball team Tuesday, combining good pitching, opportunistic hitting and excellent fielding in a 7-0 victory over Bishop Amat in La Puente.

Golden Hawk pitcher Jeff Petredes limited the Lancers to six singles and struck out five for his second shutout of the season. Bishop Amat (15-9-1) was coming off a 15-1 victory over Riverside Poly in the first round of the playoffs.

The Lancers were no match for the Golden Hawks, who have won eight straight games and improved to 21-6. The El Dorado pitching staff has allowed only eight hits and one run in two playoff victories.

“That team will give people fits in the playoffs,” said Mark Paredes, Bishop Amat coach. “They play excellent defense, and that’s why they’ve won more than 20 games. They’re a very good team.”

El Dorado will play Camarillo Friday. The Scorpions defeated Millikan, 6-1, Tuesday.

El Dorado scored the only runs it needed in the second. Petredes led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a single by third baseman Doug Yates. Both runners scored when designated hitter Scott Holcomb hit a line drive that sailed over Bishop Amat left fielder Rick Carter’s head and rolled to the fence for a triple.

Bishop Amat missed its best chance in the first inning. The Lancers loaded the bases with two out, but Petredes caught Lancer third baseman David Gorman looking on a third strike for the final out.

“If Bishop Amat had gotten a hit at that time, it would have changed the complexion of the game,” said Steve Gullotti, El Dorado coach. “Jeff always has a problem getting loose in the first inning.

“Once he got out of the inning, you could see his confidence starting to build. He’s struggled lately, but we worked on correcting his motion last Saturday, and he did a great job today.”

Petredes helped himself by picking off two baserunners and recording nine ground-ball outs. The biggest out came on an interference call in the sixth inning after Bishop Amat put two runners on base with one out.

Pat Rozier hit a grounder to Hawk shortstop Shawn Blankenship, who flipped to second baseman Bret Boone for a putout. The throw to first was late, but it was ruled that Lancer runner Eddie Velazquez interfered with Boone’s throw to first, and Rozier was called out for an inning-ending double play.

“That was a gutsy call, and the right call,” Gullotti said. “The umpire didn’t have to make that call. It was a big break for us.

“It’s now down to eight teams, and we’ve played two fine games to reach the quarterfinals. But we’ll still have to be lucky to get to the finals.”

Not if the Hawks continue to take advantage of an opponent’s mistakes. El Dorado scored its third run against Bishop Amat on a walk, a ground out to second and a looping single over second by center fielder Steve Gill.

The Hawks put the game out of reach in the seventh by capitalizing on two Lancer errors to score four unearned runs. The big blow of the inning was a two-run single by catcher Doug Sipple.

“We gave them too many chances, and you can’t afford to do that and hope to win against a team like El Dorado,” Paredes said. “They got great pitching. The kid (Petredes) threw the ball hard and inside on us, and we never adjusted.”