PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Torrance’s Victory Over Beverly Hills Earns Share of Title

Torrance High has been a good hitting baseball team all season, but Thursday the Tartars were at their best in a 16-9 victory over Beverly Hills at Torrance Park.

Torrance had 19 hits to claim a share of the Bay League championship with Beverly Hills and Rolling Hills. The Tartars (18-8 and 9-5 in league play) trailed Beverly Hills and Rolling Hills by a game, but Palos Verdes defeated Rolling Hills, 11-4, creating the three-way tie. Torrance’s victory also prevented Palos Verdes from qualifying for the playoffs.

Rolling Hills will be top seed of the league’s three teams in the Southern Section 5-A playoffs as a result of a coin flip. Torrance will be the No. 2 seed and Beverly Hills will be No. 3.

Rolling Hills’ reward is a first-round game at home, Beverly Hills (19-6, 9-5) will play on the road and Torrance’s site will be determined by another coin flip.

Every player in Torrance’s starting lineup had at least one hit. Leading the attack were:

* Senior first baseman Mike Kendall, who went 4 for 4 with five runs batted in and a home run.

* Third baseman Antone Williamson, who broke a 2-for-15 slump with a 4-for-4 performance and scored five runs. Williamson raised his average to .519.

* Right fielder Eric Gonzales, whose two-base error helped Beverly Hills score four runs in the third inning, made up for it with a double, a homer and six RBIs.

* Shortstop Bryan Mullings, who had three singles and scored four runs.

“We’ve hit the ball real well all year,” Torrance Coach Jeff Phillips said. “But yesterday in practice we challenged the kids. We told them the championship was there if they wanted it, and they went out and got it.”

Torrance took a 6-2 lead in the second on Gonzales’ two-run double. But Beverly Hills tied the score the next inning with four runs off Torrance starter Dennis Miller.

Williamson broke the tie with an RBI single off the right-field wall in the bottom of the third. Gonzales then hit a three-run homer over the right center-field wall off Beverly Hills starter Robby Welles (7-2).

Welles hit Tartar catcher Jason Kendall with his next pitch, and Kendall’s brother, Mike, followed with a homer over the left-field wall to give Torrance a 12-6 lead.

Junior left-hander Kris Radcliffe (5-3) relieved Miller with two out in the third and finished for the victory. He struck out four.