PREP ROUNDUP : Titans Snap Loss Streak, Tied for 1st in Bay Race

There must have been more than a little concern after the Rolling Hills High baseball team dropped three consecutive Bay League games, right?

Not according to Coach Garry Poe.

“I’ve lost three in a row before,” said Poe after his team ended its losing streak Thursday with a 12-1 victory over Torrance at Torrance Park. “That doesn’t mean that the players adjusted very well. They’ve never gone through it before. (The coaches) had to help them adjust.”

The Titans, who improved to 12-9 overall and 8-4 in league play, remained in a first-place tie with Beverly Hills. Rolling Hills will close the regular season with two games next week against Palos Verdes, which is one game out of first at 7-5.

Torrance remained two games out of first at 6-6 but is in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Tartars fell to 10-13 overall.

“This thing is still in a logjam,” said Torrance Coach Jeff Phillips. “We’ve got two games to go and we’ll continue to battle.”

Rolling Hills, which dropped an 8-4 decision to the Tartars on Tuesday, exploded for 12 runs on 14 hits against three pitchers.

Rolling Hills starter Dan Block held Torrance to three hits through seven innings to pick up his fourth league win against one loss.

The Titans took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a single, a walk and a two-run single by Bob Mitchell.

The Tarters came back with a run in the bottom of the first on a walk and an RBI double by Antone Williamson.

But the Titans opened a 5-1 lead in the second on a three-run home run by sophomore Kirt Kishita.

Rolling Hills extended its lead with two runs in the third, two in the fifth and two in the sixth.

Shawn Carpenter and Mitchell each had three hits and two RBIs for the Titans while Tom Tavoularis had three hits and one RBI.

Beverly Hills 5, Palos Verdes 3--Despite collecting more hits, the Sea Kings fell out of a first-place tie in the Bay League with a loss at home.

Palos Verdes outhit Beverly Hills, 5-4, but the Normans took advantage of six walks and a hit batter by two pitchers to register their second straight win over the Sea Kings this week.

Beverly Hills remained in a first-place tie with Rolling Hills at 8-4 while Palos Verdes (14-10 overall) fell one game off the pace at 7-5 heading into its two-game series with Rolling Hills next week.

The Normans took the lead for good with three runs in the third inning on an RBI single by Michael Moore and a two-run single by Terry Fahn.

Palos Verdes cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the third on a run-scoring double by Lance Haworth and a sacrifice fly by Mike Hoye, but Beverly Hills came back with single runs in the fourth and fifth.

Sophomore left-hander Pat O’Hara suffered the loss, giving up four hits and five walks in six innings. He walked in a run in the fourth.

Christian Capper tripled, doubled and drove in a run for Palos Verdes.