Torrance Pitcher Martinez Looks Sharp in 9-0 Victory : Preps: Right-hander stops Bishop Montgomery on two hits as Tartars win for seventh time in nine games.

When the Torrance High baseball team opened the season 1-4, Coach Jeff Phillips decided it was time to make a move.

“We had a team talk in order to re-evaluate our goals,” Phillips said. “We said we needed to come out (each game) and make a team effort and we knew we needed tough pitching and defense. We have only five returning starters, so we knew we had a lot of holes to fill.”

Thursday at Torrance Park, the Tartars showed again that they are reaching their goals.

Right-hander Ralph Martinez (3-0) went the distance for the second time this season, pitching a two-hitter in Torrance’s 9-0 nonleague victory over Bishop Montgomery.

“He’s pitching the way we knew he could pitch all along,” Phillips said. “Ralph was throwing his first pitches for strikes, and when he’s doing that it makes it easier for everybody.”

Martinez, who went 7-1 and was a first-team All-Pioneer League pitcher in 1991, struck out five and did not allow a runner to reach third as the Tartars (8-6) won for the seventh time in nine games.

“I felt really good out there,” Martinez said. “I felt like I was on when I was warming up before the game. My arm was just great. My curveball and fastball were down and that was the key.”

Bishop Montgomery starter Moses Juarez had a rough outing, going five innings and giving up eight runs, five unearned. The Knights dropped to 4-10.

“We lack (varsity) experience with just three returning starters, and two of those are pitchers,” Bishop Montgomery Coach Rudy Garbalosa said. “On the field you can see that.

“(But) Torrance is a good ballclub and they hit the ball well. (Martinez) did a good job getting us to hit the ball on the ground.”

Torrance catcher Jason Kendall, who entered the game batting .650, went two for four, including a triple, and drove in two runs. Shortstop Ryan Shannon also had two runs batted in.

The Tartars took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and scored five runs on three hits in the second, highlighted by Shannon’s two-run single. Torrance increased its lead with two runs in the fourth and another in the sixth.