SOUTH COAST LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Dolan No-Hitter Lifts San Clemente

Pitcher Ken Dolan is off to an impressive start for the San Clemente High School baseball team this season, but you wouldn’t know it by his record.

In his first two starts, Dolan struck out 15 batters and allowed one earned run. For his efforts, he had an 0-2 record.

Wednesday, Dolan was more impressive, throwing a no-hitter against Capistrano Valley. And this time he even got the victory.

The Tritons made the most of Cougar mistakes and managed to hold their errors to a minimum for a 4-2 South Coast League victory at San Clemente.

“The last couple of weeks my arm has been a little dead,” said Dolan, a junior. “I took special care of it last night to get it loose. When I was warming up today, I knew I had my fastball with me.”

That was evident from the start.

Dolan kept the Cougars off-balance by mixing his fastball, which has been clocked at 86 miles per hour, with his knuckle curve. He struck out the first three batters he faced on 12 pitches.

For the game, Dolan (1-2) struck out 10, including three of the last five batters he faced.

When the Cougars did manage to hit the ball, it didn’t go far. Only one ball was hit out of the infield off Dolan.

“When Kenny knows he’s going against a good team, he gets really pumped up,” San Clemente Coach Joe Miller said. “He seems to do well against quality opponents.”

No one knows that more than Capistrano Valley Coach Bob Zamora.

Wednesday’s game marked the third time in three seasons that Dolan has beaten the Cougars. As a freshman, he pitched a one-hitter against Capistrano Valley in only his second start on the varsity.

Last season, Dolan allowed only five hits in a 2-1 victory over the Cougars.

“The kid seems to have our number,” Zamora said. “His curveball is very difficult to read. By the time you do, it’s past you.”

But Dolan almost gave the game away in the fourth inning. After breezing through the first nine batters, he opened the fourth by hitting Mike Lavin. The Tritons then made three errors that allowed the Cougars to score two runs.

Two of the errors were committed by Dolan. First, he booted a sacrifice bunt and later in the inning he made a throwing error, which allowed the Cougars to score their second run.

Capistrano Valley might have had a bigger inning, but Dan Zamora was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

“I just blew it that inning,” Dolan said. “I made an error and let it get to me. Fortunately, the team got me some runs early, so that inning didn’t hurt me too much.”

San Clemente (2-4 overall, 1-0 in league) gave Dolan an early lead by scoring four runs in the first inning. The Cougars (4-3, 0-1) lent a helping hand in the inning with an error, a passed ball and three wild pitches.

Losing pitcher Travis Burgus (2-1) settled down after the first inning, allowing only one hit and striking out five in the final five innings.

“We just gave it away in the first,” Zamora said. “Travis gave up four hits and struck out five. You would think he’d get a win with numbers like those.”

And he might have. Except Wednesday was Dolan’s day.

In other league games:

Mission Viejo 3, Dana Hills 1--Steve Evans allowed eight hits, struck out six and walked two (2-1) to lead Mission Viejo (3-2-1, 1-0). Don Disbro had a double and two runs batted in in the first inning for the Diablos. Dana Hills’ Mike Robertson had four hits.

Irvine 5, El Toro 4 (9 innings)--Mike Seal’s double in the bottom of the ninth inning drove in the winning run for Irvine (4-4, 1-0). Mark Huffman left off the bottom of the inning with his fourth hit. It was Seal’s third hit. John Bretva (2-1) pitched all nine innings, striking out nine, walking two and allowing six hits.