Alegria Pitches In to Help Poly Register 6-1 Win Over Monroe

With only one pitcher returning from last season’s talented quintet, Poly High baseball Coach Jerry Cord thought the Parrots’ weakness would be obvious.

Surprise. Surprise.

The Parrots’ staff is keeping Poly in ballgames.

Senior left-hander Allen Alegria allowed only four hits in six innings to help the Parrots beat visiting Monroe, 6-1, in a Valley Pac-8 Conference opener. Ray Gutierrez retired Monroe in order in the seventh.

“Pitching was the big question mark with us before the season,” Cord said. “But that hasn’t been the case.”

Alegria (2-1), who has given up six earned runs in 20 innings, is fast emerging as one of Poly’s best pitchers.

“All of my junk pitches--my knuckleball and everything--were working pretty good today,” Alegria said.

Alegria’s only trouble came in the third inning when he allowed hits to the first four batters. After Chris Stell and Bryan McComb singled, Jorge Dorado ripped a double to the left-field fence to drive in Stell and tie the score, 1-1.

“That was the only bad pitch I really made,” Alegria said. “It was a high fastball and I left it up there.”

Monroe (2-2-1) could have made more trouble for Alegria, but poor baserunning and a double play took the Vikings out of the inning.

After Dorado’s double, Noel Toledo hit a high fly ball that dropped in shallow center field. McComb, waiting to tag at third, bolted home when the ball dropped, but center fielder Jesus Perez threw a strike to nail McComb at the plate. With runners at first and second and one out, Juan Navarro hit into a double play to end the threat.

Only one Monroe batter reached base after the third inning.

Monroe’s defensive effort did little to make up for its meager offense. The Vikings committed five errors, each of which contributed to a run.

“We didn’t come ready to play,” Monroe Coach Kevin Campbell said. “We gave it no effort at all and it showed. The (lack of) offense carried over to the defense.”

Poly (4-2) managed just four hits off starter Dorado, who gave up no earned runs.