EMPIRE LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Tomko Does Lunch, Then Does In Knights

Brett Tomko was told at lunch Friday he was pitching for the El Dorado High School baseball team. It was to be the senior’s first varsity start and nothing much was riding on it, only first place in the Empire League.

“I was a little nervous,” Tomko said. “I was very nervous. I decided I would try to go four or five (innings) and hope for the best.”

Tomko exceeded even his expectations. He labored at times but went the distance in the Golden Hawks’ 4-3 victory over Katella at El Dorado.

The victory, which was Tomko’s first this season, kept the Golden Hawks a game in front of Esperanza and moved them two games ahead of Katella.

“It was Brett or nothing today,” El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. “We handed him the ball and told him to pitch seven.”

El Dorado’s top two starters were unavailable Friday, Shawn Holcomb because of a tender arm and Andy Brazeel because he was benched for missing a team meeting. The Golden Hawks were also without spot-starter Matt Svobada, who has been dismissed from the team.

Tomko, normally a relief pitcher, responded. He pitched himself in and out of trouble but gave up only one earned run.

Tomko (1-0) gave up seven hits and walked three. He also threw three wild pitches.

However, he got out of trouble when needed. The Knights (8-6, 3-2) left seven runners on base, including two in the seventh.

“I was a little shaky at first, being my first start and all,” said Tomko, who has three saves this season. “But after the fourth inning, I started to get more confidence. I got stronger after that.”

The Golden Hawks (11-4, 5-0) supplied him with just enough offense.

With the score tied, 1-1, Tyson Dowdell led off the bottom of the third with a double and, one out later, Gar Vallone walked. Holcomb then lined a double into the left-center field gap to give El Dorado a 3-1 lead.

The Golden Hawks added a run in the fourth as Dowdell doubled home Chris Barlow.

El Dorado’s offensive spurts came at the expense of Katella pitcher Chris Reed (4-2).

Reed struck out eight but walked seven. He allowed seven hits and went to several full counts. Still, a victory appeared within reach after the Knights scored two runs in the fifth.

Katella had the tying run on second with one out in the seventh, but Tomko got Dennis Briggs to fly to right. After walking Kyle Evans, he got Matt Stockstill to ground out to end the game.

“Brett certainly came up with a big game when we needed it,” Gullotti said.

In other games:

Esperanza 13, Los Alamitos 3--Rich Hill had a double, a three-run home run and scored three times, and John Pitts had two hits and scored three runs for host Esperanza (14-1, 4-1).

Loara 11, Cypress 9--Charlie Gipson had three hits and scored three runs for Loara. Danny Flanagan had three hits and scored twice for Cypress (2-10, 1-4). Cypress out-hit Loara, 13-9, but had six errors.