FREEWAY LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Looney, Sunny Hills Down Troy

Three days ago, Sunny Hills staggered cross-town rival Troy with its right-hand punch.

Friday, Sunny Hills landed the knockout blow--this time with a left.

Chris Looney, the left-hander in Sunny Hills’ left-right connection, shut down Troy with a four-hitter, leading the Lancers to an 11-1 Freeway League victory at Troy.

It was Sunny Hills’ third league victory against Troy. On Wednesday, Lancer right-hander Rick Orr defeated Troy, 13-3.

“Rick is our Wednesday guy, and Chris is our Friday guy,” Sunny Hills Coach Doug Elliott said. “They’re both outstanding pitchers. It’s not too often you can go through a high school season with two good pitchers. Usually, you have one good pitcher and piece the rest of it together.”

Looney and Orr are the two biggest reasons Sunny Hills (14-5, 9-0) is atop the Freeway League standings.

The two pitchers have different styles: Orr throws hard, while Looney prefers finesse. But the results are strikingly similar.

Friday, Looney struck out nine and walked four while running his record to 5-2 (5-0 in Freeway League). Orr is 4-1, 4-0 in league.

“Rick takes the bulldog approach--he comes right at you,” Elliott said. “Chris will play with you a little bit, mixes it up, bites at the corners.”

Looney held Steve Friedrich, Troy’s power-hitting catcher,hitless in three at-bats. The Warriors (11-6, 5-4) finally scratched out a run in the seventh, when Looney walked Bryan Burchit and Haruhiko Oda and allowed a single to Ryan Russell.

But the Lancers did plenty of hitting. Sunny Hills punched out eight hits and was aided by six Troy errors. Two of Sunny Hills’ hits were home runs to left field by Orr and Mark Veronda.

In other league games:

La Habra 5, Fullerton 2--La Habra (8-5, 6-3) tied the score in the third on a single by Brian Reed, a double by Mark Patterson and a two-run double by Matt Smith. Smith singled home Reed for the go-ahead run in the fourth inning.

Buena Park 15, Sonora 1--Chad Estrella and Adam Townson each had two hits and two RBIs for visiting Buena Park (6-8, 4-5).