PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Rolling Hills Pounds Out 15-12 Triumph Against Hawthorne in Key Game

Rolling Hills High took a big step toward a Bay League championship Thursday by defeating Hawthorne High, 15-12, in a wild game that had a little (or a lot) of everything.

Between the teams at Hawthorne’s field, there were 17 walks, 10 errors, 10 stolen bases, four home runs and 25 runners left on base. The game lasted 3 1/3 hours and was played in front of one umpire.

“I am happy we won,” said Rolling Hills Coach Garry Poe. “I am not real happy with the way we won. All we had today was our hitting and running.”

Poe needed every bit of his offense. Hawthorne countered his 13-hit, nine-stolen-base attack with three homers, two of them grand slams.

The first slam came off the bat of Armando Fernandez in the third inning after Rolling Hills had capitalized on five Cougar errors in opening a 7-0 lead. The towering drive to left-center field was the sophomore’s third of the season. It also sent Titan starter Frank Nastanski to the showers after two innings.

Ron Campbell, who would eventually raise his record to 4-2, relieved for Rolling Hills and held Hawthorne to three runs (one earned) over the next four innings. Meanwhile, his teammates sandwiched a five-run fifth inning between a single run in the fourth and two runs in the sixth. Catcher Steve Archibald drove in four runs during the three inning stretch with a triple.

With a 15-7 lead, Campbell ran into trouble in the seventh. After getting two quick outs, the senior watched his 2.00 ERA grow by giving up a solo homer to Kenny Alexander and a grand slam to Rich Peters. Poe went to the bullpen and brought in Dan Block who proceeded to strike out Steve Keith to end the game.

When asked by a reporter if he had ever lost a game in which his team hit two grand slams, Hawthorne Coach Lester Sakurai replied: “Are you kidding? I’ve never been with a team who has even hit two grand slams.”

The win enabled Rolling Hills (11-6, 7-1) to open a two-game lead in the Bay League. It was the Titans’ fourth consecutive league win and second straight over the Cougars. Hawthorne, which came into the week one game behind Rolling Hills, dropped three back at 4-4 (9-9 overall).

The Cougars were without their ace pitcher, Steve Keith (6-0). The junior left-hander had to leave the opening game of the two-game series on Tuesday with a pulled back muscle. He was able to bat and could be back on the mound Tuesday.

Greg Schwartz, Bob Mitchell, Neil Roy and Tristan Paul had two hits for Rolling Hills. Schwartz hit his fourth homer, Mitchell stole three bases, and Paul drove in three runs with a bases loaded triple. Alexander, Peters and Fernandez paced the Hawthorne attack. Alexander had three hits while Peters and Fernandez had two. Francisco Cordova (1-2) was the losing pitcher as he and Sakurai agonized over the Cougars six errors in the first four innings.

Palos Verdes 1, Leuzinger 0--Palos Verdes left-hander Pat O’Hara has had trouble getting past the fifth inning in recent starts, so Sea King Coach Gil Eberhard naturally expected the worst when O’Hara opened the fourth inning with a walk.

“I thought, ‘Oh no, not again,’ ” Eberhard said. “But he showed a lot of heart.”

O’Hara, a 6-3, 220-pound sophomore, went the distance, tossing a two-hitter and recording the Sea Kings’ first shutout of the season in a Bay League game at Palos Verdes.

The Sea Kings’ fourth consecutive victory completed a two-game sweep over Leuzinger this week and kept them in second place behind Rolling Hills in the Bay standings with a 5-3 record. They are 12-6 overall.

For Leuzinger, it was a case of good news and bad news.

The good news was that ace left-hander Tyrone Scott showed no sign of a sore arm that bothered him in the last two weeks. He threw a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts and allowed only three baserunners.

The bad news for the Olympians was that Scott ruined his fine performance with an errant pick-off attempt in the first inning, allowing Spuds Powell to score from first base for the game’s only run. Powell, who scored with two outs, had reached base on a walk.

Leuzinger (12-8-1 overall, 3-5 in league play) threatened in the fourth and seventh innings, but each time O’Hara pitched out of trouble.

He also received defensive help.

With two outs and runners on first and second in the fourth, left fielder Powell made a running catch on a deep drive by Carlos Rodriguez.

Leuzinger, which stranded six runners, used a walk and a bloop single to put runners at the corners with two outs in the seventh. But O’Hara ended the game by forcing Kiko Martinez to ground out to second baseman Lance Haworth, who collected Palos Verdes’ only hit on an infield single to open the game.

Eberhard said the Sea Kings are just now hitting their stride after playing without several starters who competed in other sports early in the season.

“I’ve got all my players now and we’re working together,” he said. “It has made a big difference.”

Palos Verdes faces Lakewood at 7 Saturday night in the semifinals of the Palos Verdes/Redondo Tournament at Redondo.

Torrance 8, Inglewood 4--Howie Kingsmill went two for three and drove in four runs, including three on a bases-loaded triple in the third inning, and sophomore Antone Williamson had two RBIs at Torrance Park to help the Tartars improve to 6-11 overall and 4-4 in the Bay League.

Williamson, who drove in five runs in Torrance’s 14-8 win over Inglewood on Tuesday, leads the South Bay with 30 RBIs.

Junior right-hander Mike Kendall pitched the last 2 2/3 innings to save the victory for starter Ryan Siebert.

Inglewood remains in last place with a 1-7 league record.

Westchester 16, Fairfax 2--Victor Darensbourg hit a three-run homer, a bases-loaded triple and finished with seven RBIs to power a 21-hit attack for the Comets in a Coastal Conference game at Westchester.

Darensbourg, who went three for four, and Steve Raack, who was three for three, hit back-to-back home runs during a six-run third inning. Jason Frank led off the bottom of the first with a homer.

Westchester evened its overall record at 11-11 and conference mark at 5-5. Left-hander William Diede pitched six innings, allowing five hits and striking out seven, to earn the victory.