Prep Baseball : Palos Verdes 3rd Baseman Likes the View From Outfield

Doug Kay has been seeing things ever since he left the infield for the greener pastures of the center field. But they have been pleasant images.

“The baseball looks like a great big grapefruit to me right now,” Kay said Thursday afternoon, after driving in three runs to boost Palos Verdes High School to a 10-0 Bay League victory over visiting Santa Monica.

Kay went three for four on the day to raise his average to an even .400, and brought in the only runs Palos Verdes needed when he scored teammates Chuck Okada and Steve Hoye with a first-inning double. The double was Kay’s sixth of the season.

Palos Verdes Coach Gil Eberhard shifted Kay from third base before the start of the season to give his team some senior leadership up the middle. Since he had been a successful third baseman, Kay didn’t understand the move at first, but he has no problems with it now.

“Fielding and hitting are related things,” Kay said. “When I was at third base, I was always a little nervous. In the outfield, I can relax more and that makes me more comfortable at the plate.”

Kay, also Palos Verdes’ all-time soccer scoring leader with 63 career goals, scored two runs Thursday and stole a pair of bases.

“Moving Doug to the outfield has made a world of difference,” Eberhard said. “Now he can concentrate solely on his hitting.”

Kay had three of Palos Verdes’ 13 hits Thursday off of Santa Monica’s right-handed ace Richard Armendariz. The Sea Kings pieced together three runs in the first inning and seven in the sixth, and upped their record to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in the Bay League.

Okada, Palos Verdes’ second baseman, went two for four to keep his average at a team-high .500 and also scored twice. And junior first baseman Pat O’Hara had three hits, including an two-run double.

Afterward, Eberhard was grinning--an opposite reaction to his mood of Tuesday afternoon, when Palos Verdes dropped an error-plagued 11-5 decision at Santa Monica.

“I think we were sleepwalking Tuesday,” Eberhard said. “We were just awful. We didn’t come to play. We had to bounce back today, and we did. Our kids didn’t get down on themselves.”

Senior right-hander Kevin Sharman pitched his first career shutout for Palos Verdes, keeping Santa Monica (4-5, 2-2) off balance with a nifty blend of fastballs and breaking pitches.

Sharman, who improved to 3-0, allowed only four hits and two walks while striking out five.

Torrance 12, Hawthorne 2--Junior right fielder Eric Gonzalez had a perfect four-for-four afternoon and drove in five runs to lead Torrance’s 11-hit attack in a Bay League game at Hawthorne.

Gonzalez, who upped his batting average to .410 on the season, had a pair of doubles.

Third baseman Antone Williamson, Torrance’s leading hitter at .488, went two for three with a run batted in and scored three times. Sophomore second baseman Jason Kendall had three hits and three RBIs for the Tartars.

Torrance improved to 10-3 overall and in 3-1 in the Bay League. Hawthorne fell to 5-7 and 0-4.

Left-hander Kris Radcliffe picked up the win for Torrance. Radcliffe (2-2) struck out four and allowed four hits in six innings.

“Kris did a great job against a very good-hitting Hawthorne team,” Torrance Coach Jeff Phillips said. “His pitching was the difference in the ball game.”

Narbonne 3, Banning 0--Sophomore right-hander Craig Valenzuela pitched a six-hit shutout to lead the Gauchos to an upset over first-place Banning in a Southern-Pacific Conference game at Narbonne.

Valenzuela (2-1) struck out five and walked two as Narbonne improved its record to 3-4-1 overall and 3-3-1 in conference play. Banning fell to 7-5 and 5-2.

“He kept the ball down,” Narbonne Coach Nick Van Lue said of Valenzuela. “All they hit were ground balls.”

Narbonne took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Richard Fordiani led off with an inside-the-park home run and Rafael Avila tripled on the next pitch and came home on Louie Estrada’s single.

San Pedro 6, Dorsey 3--Trailing 3-0, the Pirates rallied for six runs in the fifth inning to pull out a Southern-Pacific Conference victory at San Pedro.

Ryan Gallaher hit a solo home run, Ruben Chavez had a two-run single, Chris Taylor doubled home two runs and Steve Vincent collected an RBI single as San Pedro improved to 7-3-1 overall and 4-2-1 in the conference with its fourth win in a row.

Reliever Eric Boysen (2-2) gave up no hits over the final 3 1/3 innings.

Rolling Hills 14, Leuzinger 5--Tristan Paul continued his torrid hitting by going three for four, including a double and a home run. He drove in three runs to lead the Titans to a Bay League victory at Leuzinger.

Paul, a junior, is nine for 11 (.818) in the last three games.

Steve Archibald and Kirt Kishita each added two hits and two RBIs for Rolling Hills, which upped its record to 5-5 overall and 3-1 in league play. Bill DeMucci also had two hits.