After Slow Start, St. Bernard Wins 11-3

St. Bernard High baseball Coach Bob Yarnall predicted that Mission League games would be tough this season.

He was right--at least for three innings Saturday.

St. Bernard fell behind early to visiting Bishop Montgomery, but the Vikings battled back to win, 11-3, in the Mission League opener for two of the league’s new members.

“Every game in this league is going to be a battle,” Yarnall said. “This game got a little out of hand, but all the teams in this league are good.”

St. Bernard started slowly. But the Vikings woke up after Ozzie Trujillo, Bishop Montgomery’s sophomore right fielder, stroked the first pitch he saw from right-hander Andy Diver (2-0) over the fence in straight-away center to give the Knights (1-3) a 1-0 lead in the third.

“I didn’t think we were giving a full effort at the start,” Yarnall said. “We were just going through the motions. Then again, I never really worry about a one-run deficit in this ballpark.”

The Vikings (5-0-1) pulled even in the bottom half of the inning on Grant Hohman’s sacrifice fly.

But the roof caved in on Bishop in the fourth. Starter Tim Newville opened the inning by giving up three straight singles--to Diver, David Bickerton and Leo Ashley.

Then Newville walked the next two batters, prompting Bishop Coach Rudy Garbalosa to replace him with right-hander Mario Lara.

Two walks, three singles and an error later, St. Bernard had pushed across 10 runs in the inning and had sent 14 batters to the plate.

Bishop never got close after that, adding two runs in the sixth off St. Bernard reliever Tony Palka.

Hohman led St. Bernard with a double, a run scored and two runs batted in, and made five nice plays at shortstop. Bickerton added two hits and two RBIs.

St. Bernard will face an even tougher test in the Mission League when it travels to Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks on Wednesday.