Poly’s Alegria Resolutely Relies on Knuckleball to Beat Sylmar, 5-2

Poly High’s Allen Alegria is doing to Valley Pac-8 Conference batters what Tom Candiotti of the Los Angeles Dodgers is doing to National League batters--beating them with the knuckleball.

Alegria, a senior left-hander who relies heavily on the knuckleball, scattered six hits through six innings to pace the Parrots to a 5-2 victory over Sylmar on Tuesday in an East Valley League game at Poly.

Judging from his pitch selection, Alegria clearly believes in the knuckleball.

“I threw one curveball the whole day,” he said. “On situations where they were expecting fastballs, I threw knuckleballs--and I was getting them over for strikes today.”

Alegria, who has been working on his knuckleball since his Little League days, has proved his worth to Poly Coach Jerry Cord.

“He’s not overpowering, but his ball really moves,” Cord said. “His curveball and knuckleball are all over the place. He’s tough to hit.”

Alegria (5-2), who struck out only one, has struck out just 16 in 42 innings. But that does not concern him.

“I know I don’t strike out a lot of people, but as long as I get little popups and ground balls, that’s pretty good,” Alegria said.

While Alegria was keeping Sylmar batters off balance with his favorite pitch, Poly’s offense was beating Sylmar right-hander Jimmy Lemos (3-3) with two-out rallies.

Eight of the Parrots’ 10 hits--and four of their five runs--came with two out.

“We did what we haven’t been doing all year--that’s getting back-to-back (hits) with runners on,” Cord said.

Poly (10-4, 7-2 in league play) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a run-scoring groundout by Eric Diaz and a run-scoring double by Francisco Flores.

Poly, which pounded out eight hits in the first three innings, scored two more runs in the third for a 4-0 advantage.

With two out and the bases empty, the Parrots bunched consecutive singles by Diaz, Flores, Orlando Chavarria and Sergio Garcia.

One inning later, with two out and the bases empty, Robert Iglesias (two for four) doubled. Frankie Medina (two for three) followed with a single to right field to drive in Iglesias for a 5-0 lead.

Sylmar (8-8, 6-3), which has lost three consecutive league games, scored twice in the sixth inning. Jose Villafana led off with a double and scored three batters later on a fielding error.

Anthony Martinez, who had singled to left, scored on a fielder’s choice.

Poly trails first-place Grant (10-4, 8-1) by one game in the league standings. Sylmar, which seemed a lock for a City Section 4-A Division playoff berth, has fallen two games off the pace.

The top two teams from each league qualify for the playoffs.