East Valley Powers Strong-Arm Initial Victims : Poly Hands Hollywood Sound Defeat, 8-0; Gomez Emerges as Added Pitching Threat

In the wake of an 8-0 baseball game, it is not surprising to find one coach happy and his counterpart somewhat doleful.

But after his team lost its East Valley League opener at Poly High on Wednesday, Hollywood Coach Raul Grijalva was surprisingly pleased.

“We lost 25-0 to them last year,” Grijalva said. “We came in thinking that if we kept them under 10 runs we’d be happy, so we are.”

Despite the easy win, Poly Coach Jerry Cord was not entirely happy with his team’s performance against a club that had failed to win a single league game in the past three seasons.

“We didn’t hit the ball as well as we should have,” Cord said. “We need to hit better.”

But if Wednesday’s game is any indicator of the season ahead the Parrots might not need that extra offensive punch.

Poly’s strength lies in its pitching staff, primarily seniors Nick Lymberopoulos and Greg Nealon, who combined for a 19-3 record last season. But now Cord may have a third ace with which to play his hand.

Mario Gomez, a junior, was impressive in relief of Lymberopoulos, the starter and pitcher of record. Gomez earned a save by pitching three shutout innings, giving up just one hit and facing one batter over the minimum.

“My curve ball, which is usually my best pitch, wasn’t working but my fastball was,” Gomez said. “I kind of feel overshadowed because I got two guys in front of me. Next year, I hope I’m an ace.”

Lymberopoulos also pitched well. He gave up 3 hits and recorded 5 strikeouts in 4 innings before coming out to rest for today’s makeup game at Grant.

Despite getting just 6 hits, Poly was able to take advantage of 7 errors and 3 base on balls.

The Parrots led, 4-0, before launching a three-run fourth inning that was highlighted not by Luis Porres’ solo home run, but by Eddie Chavez’s heads-up baserunning.

Chavez led off and reached first on an error by Hollywood shortstop Efrain Nava. On the first pitch to Schad Martinez, Chavez took off for second. The throw from catcher Matias Ojeda’s hit Chavez on the helmet and the ball bounced into right field, allowing Chavez to score.

Two batters later, Porres hit a home run to right field to give Poly a 6-0 lead. The next batter, Louie Garcia reached base on an error and scored on a single by Lymberopoulos.