Easy Win Extends Series Stay for Dodgers

One day earlier, Mark Morton sounded like a film critic who had been forced to sit through a dozen screenings of a bad horror movie. The manager of the San Fernando Valley Dodgers had watched his team stumble to a loss Friday in the first round of the National Baseball Congress World Series.

He was talking thumbs down, a whopping 2 on the 10 scale. Pan, man.

What a difference a day makes. The Dodgers’ performance Saturday more closely resembled the kind of reviews the team’s manager had been hoping to offer.

“That’s the Valley Dodgers I know,” Morton said after his team smashed 15 hits off four in a 12-5 win over Greensboro, N. C.

First baseman Mark Gieseke, a Division II All-American from Sacramento State, led the offensive parade with three hits, including a three-run homer in the first inning, his fifth. Gieseke also singled, doubled and walked twice.

“I hit a fastball, a change-up and a curve today,” Gieseke said. “I had it going pretty well.”

The Dodgers rebounded from a 6-2 first-round loss to Hartselle, Ala., a game in which they committed four errors and ran poorly on the bases.

San Fernando is 1-1 in the double-elimination tournament and will play Monday against a team yet to be determined.

The Dodgers played against Greensboro like they believe themselves capable of hanging around a bit longer.

“Nothing went right Friday,” Gieseke said. “But we’ve got the kind of team that can bounce back. And we’ve got the pitching staff that can get us into contention.”

Starting left-hander Jon Willard (1-0) pitched five innings to pick up the victory, allowing six hits and four runs.

However, it was reliever Vale Lopez, picked up recently from the Alaska League’s San Francisco Senators, who was the pitching standout. Lopez, who pitched for Oxnard College last spring, allowed only two hits and struck out five in three innings to earn a save.

“He was outstanding,” Morton said. “He’ll help us in the tournament.”

There is more good news regarding the pitching staff. Right-hander Dan Penner, formerly the pitching coach at Cal State Northridge, joins the team today and will start Monday.

“We’ve got pitching depth and that’s what it’ll take since we lost our first game,” Morton said.

After the Dodgers jumped ahead of Greensboro following Gieseke’s first-inning homer, the Brewers battled back with single runs in the second, third and fourth to tie the score, 3-3.

The Dodgers, however, rallied for three more runs in the fifth. After left fielder Ted Higgins led off with a double, Gieseke singled him home. Two outs later, shortstop Jeff Light singled to center, and the ball went under the glove of Herbie Williams, allowing Gieseke to score from first. Light wound up at third and scored on a single by catcher Scott McIntyre.

The Dodgers scored another run in the sixth, two more in the seventh and three in the eighth.