Livingston Bottles Up Taft With 3-Hitter, 4-0 : Prep baseball: Granada Hills right-hander rebounds after lasting only one-third of an inning against the Toreadors two days earlier.

A mere two days before, Matt Livingston’s head was buzzing. His fastball, however, was not.

In a start against Taft High two days earlier, the Granada Hills pitcher was feeling weak at the knees in the first inning. And not just because Taft had scored a run and loaded the bases with one out. “I had the headache from hell,” Livingston said. “I felt like I was going to throw up on the mound.”

Livingston was removed after recording one out and was saddled with the defeat. Wednesday, the 6-foot-5 junior right-hander turned some Taft heads and stomachs by tossing a three-hitter during a 4-0 victory in a Northwest Valley Conference game at Granada Hills.

Livingston (3-2) gave up three singles, including one infield chopper. He struck out five, walked one and was bailed out by a pair of eyebrow-raising plays in the outfield.

With Granada Hills (10-3, 5-3 in league play) holding a 1-0 lead in the fourth, Taft’s Mike Sweeney (two hits) ripped a two-out liner to right field that seemed destined to drive in Gabe Kapler from first. Granada Hills right fielder Scott Berger had other ideas.

Berger turned, leaped and made a fully extended, backhanded catch that took the air out of the Taft offense.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen better,” said Taft Coach Rich McKeon, whose team had a nine-game winning streak snapped. “It was fantastic, I could see the ball in the end of his glove.

“I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

For Livingston, however, it was. He retired 13 of the final 16 batters--one of whom reached base in the seventh on an infield error--to hand red-hot Taft (9-3-1, 7-1) its first defeat in conference play.

“The fastball was definitely on today,” Livingston said. “The slider started coming around later in the game.”

So did Coach Darryl Stroh’s make-’em-sweat offense. In the fourth, the Highlanders forced the issue and managed to squeeze three runs out of two hits. Literally.

Center fielder Rob Weinzimer--who later would make a sparkling grab of a liner to shallow right-center--led off the fourth with a single and moved to third when Taft catcher Adam Shotland’s pickoff attempt sailed into right field for an error. The next batter, Heath McElwee, quickly found himself in a 0-and-2 hole.

McElwee did the unexpected--at least, for anyone wearing a Taft jersey. He dumped the next pitch down the third base line as Weinzimer scooted home on the suicide squeeze to hand the Highlanders a 2-0 lead.

Though McElwee had doubled in the third to give Granada Hills a 1-0 lead, he hardly was surprised when Stroh hung out the squeeze sign on 0-and-2.

“I know that no matter who you are, if you can hit or if you can’t, coach likes to lay down the ball,” said McElwee, who leads the team with 17 runs batted in. “I was looking for (the squeeze sign) the whole time. It made it easier.”

The Highlanders made matters simple for Livingston by scoring two more runs in the inning. Sam Voita singled with one out, Berger drew a walk and Gary Matthews moved the runners to second and third with--shocker of all shockers--a sacrifice bunt.

Gaby Halcovich followed by sending a grounder to third base that resulted in an error that allowed Voita and Berger to score for a 4-0 lead.