BASEBALL ROUNDUP : South Gate Buries Jordan--With Help From the ‘Dogs

It’s hard for a team to get respect when it plays in the same conference as Huntington Park, Roosevelt and South Gate.

Jordan Coach Ray Duron knows the only way his Bulldogs will gain recognition is by defeating one of the Big Three: “Everyone sees playing Jordan as an easy game. The only way we can change that is to beat the top teams in our conference.”

Unfortunately, Duron and Jordan’s quest will have to wait, losing to South Gate, 9-1, last week in a Southeastern Conference game.

And before the Bulldogs can beat the elite, they will first have to learn how not to beat themselves. Mario Guillen and Arthur Valera both had singles taken away by the umpire in the third and fourth innings, respectively, after being called out for throwing their bats.

The mistakes helped South Gate pitcher George Zamora (1-0) cruise to a two-hit victory.

“We had thrown bats and misjudged fly balls and we can’t make those types of mental mistakes and expect to win,” Duron said.

South Gate, playing its fifth game in four days, used a makeshift lineup to rest players. Their starting first baseman and clean-up hitter, Jesse Torres, sat out the game sick.

A break for Jordan pitcher Ernesto Jimenez (0-1)?

Hardly.

Torres’ replacement, Ernesto Barron, didn’t play like anyone’s backup, going two-for-two with three RBIs. Barron opened South Gate’s scoring in the second inning with an RBI triple to centerfield and helped the Rams pad their lead, 7-0, in the fifth with a two-run single.

Jordan’s Frank Medina drove in Oscar Coracero from second on a two-out single in the sixth inning.

However, in typical Bulldog performance on this day, Medina was thrown out at second trying to stretch the single into a double.