Grant Strands 13 in 1-0 Loss to Monroe

Monroe High’s Jorge Dorado lacked control of everything but the scoreboard Tuesday.

Dorado, a junior right-hander, walked six, hit the same batter three times and allowed four hits, but he stranded them all in host Monroe’s 1-0 win over Grant in a Valley Pac-8 Conference baseball game.

Dorado worked himself into jams in every inning but the seventh with walks, hit batters and a wild pitch, but Grant could not capitalize.

“He’s effectively wild, I guess you can say,” Monroe Coach Kevin Campbell said. “That was the way it was last year too. He’s just a tough kid--he never gets shook up out there.”

In marooning 13 runners, Grant (6-4, 4-1 in conference play) left at least one runner in scoring position in each of the first six innings. Dorado pitched out of one-out, bases-loaded jams in the first and fifth innings. He loaded the bases again with two out in the sixth by hitting Peter Chong for the third time.

“Every inning I just kept telling him, ‘Hey, you’re amazing,’ ” Campbell said. “Maybe we should just start every inning by loading the bases on intentional walks.”

Dorado got a scare in the second inning when Grant’s Jose Velazquez hit a stinging line drive back at him. The ball hit Dorado in the right forearm, but he recovered and threw out Velazquez to end the inning.

“It didn’t hurt, but I felt it tighten up,” Dorado said of his arm. “I couldn’t squeeze the ball in the next inning, but I just tried to throw through it.”

Dorado (3-1), whose earned-run average fell to a team-low 1.47, struck out nine and helped his own cause offensively in the first inning. His groundout to shortstop drove in Marco Alvarado for the game’s only run.

“There may be some question as to why I didn’t bring the infield in in the first inning, but that early in the ballgame I didn’t think one run was gonna beat us,” Grant Coach Tom Lucero said.

Monroe (6-2-1, 4-1) is the first team to shut out Grant this season.

Senior right-hander Tony Kuper (1-2) threw a three-hitter and struck out five but took the loss.