PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Banning Belts Out a Victory Over Pedro

All parties involved conceded it’s too early in the baseball season to tab a Marine League favorite, but Wednesday afternoon Banning High presented a strong case.

Host San Pedro had its ace on the mound and an unblemished record. But Banning roughed up starter Rodney Garcia early, then continued the assault on the way to a 16-6 victory.

Banning (6-2 overall) improved its league record to 3-0 while San Pedro (7-1) fell to 2-1 in league competition. Banning is tied with Gardena for first place.

“It’s hard to say that we are the front-runners,” said Pilots Coach Syl Saavedra. “It’s the any-given-day thing. Any team is capable of beating you. But it’s a good feeling to come out to their field and beat them.”

Banning took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Ricardo Bernal and John Otte singled in runs, but San Pedro scored three runs in its half of the inning on a two-run homer by Art Castenada and an inside-the-park home run by Grant Beachley.

San Pedro’s lead was short-lived as the Pilots sent eight men to the plate in the second and scored four runs.

Fernando Herrera got things rolling with a walk and Sal Areyan followed with a single. Chris Fernandez singled home Herrera and Jesse Espinoza drove home both runners with a long double. Darren Kondash singled home Espinoza to put Banning ahead for good, 6-3.

Staked to the lead, Banning starter Bernal settled down and followed Saavedra’s game plan, which was simply to throw strikes.

“Coach said just relax,” said Bernal, who improved his record to 3-0. “He told me after the homers in the first to just throw strikes and try to get it over the plate. The main thing was he told me not to get down on myself, to forget the home runs and start over.”

Banning banged out 17 hits, with Otte (4 for 5, 4 RBI) leading the assault. But it was Bernal’s ability to hang in there when San Pedro was mounting a rally that made the difference.

Bernal gave up 10 hits, struck out three, walked three and helped himself with a sharp defensive play to end the game. San Pedro loaded the bases in the seventh and Matt Rasband hit a line shot seemingly headed for center field. Instead, Bernal gloved the ball for the final out.

“We hit the ball pretty hard all day,” said San Pedro Coach Jerry Lovarov. “But it was always at somebody. Give Banning the credit. They’re an excellent team. We didn’t make the key plays and they did.”

Garcia (3-1) lasted just three innings, surrendering 10 runs on 10 hits and walking three.

Lovarov said he pinpointed the problem immediately.

“He wasn’t getting the curve over so they were sitting on the fastball all day,” he said. “That’s the smart thing to do.”

Hawthorne 3, Santa Monica 2--Rich Peters singled home the winning run in the sixth inning and right-hander Tom Jess pitched a three-hitter to give the Cougars an Ocean League win at home.

Hawthorne (3-5, 1-1) fell behind 2-0 after two innings but battled back with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Peters finished with two RBI and Steve Miller went three-for-three for the Cougars.

Santa Monica slipped to 1-1 in league play.

St. Bernard 15, St. Anthony 2--Shortstop Royce Clayton drove in four runs, two on a fourth-inning homer, and left-hander Dan Melendez went four-for-four and pitched a four-hitter to power the host Vikings in a Camino Real League opener.

St. Bernard (6-2 overall), which collected 14 hits, built its lead to 7-0 with four runs in the fourth. Melendez finished with a home run and three RBI and Eric Strand was two-for-two with three runs scored. Melendez struck out seven and improved to 2-1.

Serra 8, Murphy 4--Torrie Sweet went three-for-four with an RBI double to lead a 13-hit attack for the Cavaliers in a Camino Real League opener at Serra.

Chris Jones, Marc Davis and Paul Beaman each collected two hits for Serra, which improved to 4-7 overall. Beaman, a senior right-hander, gave up seven hits to earn his first pitching victory in three decisions.

Carson 13, Narbonne 0--George Malauulu went three-for-four with a home run and four RBI and right-hander Tim Vasquez pitched a three-hitter with nine strikeouts to lead the Colts to a Marine League win at Carson.

Pat Camacho was three-for-three with two RBI for Carson, which improved to 4-5-1 overall and 1-2 in league play. Narbonne is tied with Locke for last place at 0-3.

Gardena 17, Locke 2--Aman Hicks had four hits in five at-bats, including a sixth-inning grand slam, to help the Mohicans (3-1, 3-0) to an easy Marine League win at Locke. Rex Carroll added a two-run homer and four RBI for Gardena.

Locke has given up 69 runs in its three league losses.

St. Monica 6, Mary Star 5--The Mariners opened Camino Real League play with a nine-inning win at home. Mary Star dropped to 6-4 overall.