BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Rolling Hills Comes Back to Defeat Torrance, 8-6

Kirt Kishita and his Rolling Hills High School teammates spent most of Thursday digging their way into and out of holes.

But by the time the afternoon was over, they had found a way to bury Torrance, 8-6, in a Bay League game at Rolling Hills.

The victory pulls Rolling Hills (11-10 overall, 8-4 in league) even with Torrance (17-7, 8-4) in second place, a half-game behind Beverly Hills.

“Our kids usually play real well behind Kirt,” Rolling Hills Coach Garry Poe said. “He’s pretty energetic on the mound, and it carries over to everyone else.”

It wasn’t pretty, but Kishita’s plucky outing ran his record to 7-4 overall and 6-1 against Bay League teams. The 6-foot-2 junior right-hander has beaten every team in the league except Palos Verdes--Rolling Hills’ opponent next week.

At the start Thursday, however, it didn’t look as if Kishita would last long. Torrance jumped on him for five runs in the second inning on five straight hits, highlighted by Mike Kendall’s two-run homer to left.

But Rolling Hills got three runs back in the bottom half of the inning on Kishita’s two-run double and a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt by Matt Kuptz.

The Titans took a 6-5 lead in the third on an RBI single by Kishita, Greg Schwartz’s run-scoring grounder, and a steal of home by sophomore Ryan Buxton.

Torrance’s Eric Gonzales tied the game at 6-6 in the fourth by driving in Antone Williamson with a triple to right.

Rolling Hills got the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth when first baseman Stefan Wahlstrom walked and stole second, then scored when Steve Archibald whistled a line single past the diving Williamson at third.