Lovrich Spells It Out for Poly, 3-1 : Prep baseball: Monroe right-hander with misprinted name on uniform shuts down Parrots on six singles.

When baseball uniforms were distributed a few weeks ago at Monroe High, pitcher Adrian Lovrich was less than thrilled to learn that the name L O U R I C H had been stitched across the back of his jersey.

All of the uniforms were sent back to the manufacturer to have the sleeves shortened, and Lovrich asked that the error be fixed. Much to his chagrin, his jersey came back with his name spelled the same way. It remains incorrect to this day.

“It’s not like it’s a hard name or anything,” he said.

Make no mistake, Lovrich was spelled with a “V” for victory Thursday as the senior right-hander pitched host Monroe to a 3-1 win over Poly in a Valley Pac-8 Conference game.

Lovrich held Poly (4-3, 1-1 in league play) to six singles and weathered a storm in the top of the seventh when Poly loaded the bases only to have the final out recorded at the plate.

“That’s why we were hoping for rain early,” Monroe Coach Kevin Campbell said. “Never a dull moment.”

Monroe (3-2-1, 1-1) held a 3-0 lead entering the seventh, but Poly tried to scramble back. With one out, Mike LaBrunda was safe on a throwing error and, one out later, pinch-hitter Francisco Dorame reached base when shortstop Robert Perea failed to backhand a line drive in the hole. Ernesto Bueno re-entered to run for Dorame.

Lovrich, who struck out three and walked none, hit Frankie Medina to load the bases. Orlando Chavarria (two hits) followed with a line single over third to drive in one run, and Bueno was waved home.

Trouble was, Bueno had difficulty rounding the bag, and Monroe’s Jorge Dorado, an All-City Section selection last season as a shortstop-pitcher, showed he knows the tricks at third base too.

Dorado stood squarely in the base path at third, forcing Bueno to take an awkward angle as he turned the corner and headed home. Left fielder Juan Navarro, meanwhile, gathered the ball cleanly and fired a strike to catcher John Shellabarger, who slapped the tag on a diving Bueno.

Monroe took a 2-0 lead in the second on a run-scoring single by Marco Alvarado and a sacrifice fly by Shellabarger. In the fourth, Shellabarger drove in Chris Ascencio with a single for a 3-0 lead.

“We were a totally different ballclub today than we were Tuesday,” said Campbell, whose team committed five errors in a 6-1 loss to Poly. “We hit when we had guys in scoring position and played pretty well on defense.”

Put it all together and it spells W I N.