Sophomore Serna Shuts Down Cleveland

It’s not every day that a sophomore pitcher is handed the baseball in the opening game of the playoffs. Then again, San Fernando right-hander Frank Serna isn’t the average 10th-grader.

“I was a little nervous in the first inning,” said Serna, who survived a shaky start to pitch a five-hitter and lead San Fernando past Cleveland, 5-0, in a City Section 4-A playoff Wednesday at San Fernando.

Serna ran into trouble in the first inning when Cleveland (10-10) loaded the bases with one out on singles by Mario Valencia and Dave Lerma and a Jim Doushgounian walk. But with a little help from his friends, Serna regained his composure and worked out of the jam by turning Mike Bergren’s grounder into a force out at home and retiring Chris Johnson on a ground out to first.

“My teammates know me real well and just told me to relax,” Serna said. “They also told me what I was doing wrong. My curve wasn’t breaking because I was not turning my hips enough.”

Not satisfied with his Houdini-like escape, Serna refused a seat on the bench between innings.

“I threw on the sidelines between the first and second innings to work on getting my curve over,” said Serna, who retired the next 14 batters.

Once Serna regained his control, Cleveland was destined for an early off-season.

“You saw our season right there in the first inning,” Cleveland Coach Ray Todd said. “We just couldn’t bring in the runs and we had the right batters up there, too.”

In contrast to Serna was Cleveland pitcher Kirk Surabian. The junior right-hander retired the first seven San Fernando batters before Rudy Sanchez punched a one-out single in the third.

“I was concerned about our hitting,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said, “more so because their outfielders played so deep. We were hitting the ball right at people.”

Surabian’s trouble came later, although it was not all of his doing. The Cleveland defense--or lack thereof--decided the game.

Randy Guerrero opened the San Fernando fifth with a single. Andy Kapuscinski forced Guerrero at second, but Kapuscinski was awarded the base when Doushgounian’s relay for an attempted double play went out of play.

Two more Cleveland errors--along with four San Fernando hits--added up to a four-run inning that all but clinched the game for Mid-Valley League champion San Fernando (13-7).

Manny Orozco had two hits for San Fernando, including a single to center in the fourth that scored what turned out to be the game-winning run.

“I told my team that this is only step one,” Marden said. “They have only 12 hours to enjoy this one. Then it’s back to business for Friday’s game.”