City Baseball Playoffs : Crawford Homers Help Venice Gain Semifinals, 13-1

Defending City 3-A champion Venice High School exploded for eight runs in the third inning en route to a 13-1 victory over Marshall at Venice to advance to the 3-A semifinals Tuesday.

Eric Crawford keyed the rally with a three-run home run. In the fifth inning, Crawford added a solo homer. And catcher Bob Tomaselli had two RBIs.

Venice will meet Palisades on Friday in the semifinals in a rematch of last year’s 3-A final. Palisades pitcher Chris Forshner pitched a seven-hitter and struck out 11 to lead Palisades to a 4-1 victory over host Roosevelt.

In other 3-A action, Franklin won its quarterfinal game, routing Dorsey, 13-3, at San Pasqual Park. Ramon Martinez, Tavo Salgado and Eliseo Jaime each had two RBIs to lead Franklin, and Joey Garcia added a solo home run. Pitcher Ricky Lopez allowed only three hits over 6 innings to improve his record to 7-1. Huntington Park will be Franklin’s opponent in the 3-A semifinals as Eric Rodriguez (8-2) threw a two-hitter in a 5-0 win over University.

In the 4-A division, a team from the San Fernando Valley is assured of winning the title for a 14th straight year as Banning, last year’s runner-up to Kennedy in the final and the only non-Valley team remaining in the playoffs, was eliminated in extra innings by Poly, 3-1.

Trailing 1-0 in the seventh inning, Poly, with the aid of two Banning errors, scored a run to tie the game at Banning. Banning then made three more errors in the ninth inning to give Poly two runs. Granada Hills, a 9-6 winner over Canoga Park, will play Poly in the 4-A semifinals.

The other 4-A semifinal will feature Grant, a 3-2 winner in nine innings over Birmingham, and San Fernando, a 10-4 winner over Chatsworth.