Igou Pitches In, Powers Notre Dame to Victory

Just call Rich Igou the all-around man. On Tuesday, the senior left-hander led Notre Dame High to a 5-2 victory over Newbury Park in the second round of the Southern Section Division I baseball playoffs.

Igou went two for two, including a three-run homer in the first inning. Then he took over for starting pitcher Andy Lutz in the bottom of the sixth inning and earned his third save of the season.

All that after pitching 10 solid innings in Friday’s first-round playoff game.

“I was fired up to get in there and pitch,” Igou said. “I was ready to go. I had four days’ rest and I knew I could go in and do good.”

Igou smacked the home run over the 350-foot center-field fence on a 3-and-2 count. Joey Orlando, who singled to left, and Justin Bunch, who walked, also scored.

Notre Dame (20-5) made it 5-0 when Chris Crowley ripped a two-run homer over the 345-foot left-field fence in the third. Orlando, who singled to center, scored on the homer.

“They hit the long ball early and that really hurt us,” Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius said. “And their pitcher did a good job keeping us off speed with his curveballs.”

Newbury Park (19-8) scored all of its runs on wild pitches by Lutz. Stu McGugan scored the first one in the fourth inning and Brian Collins the other in the sixth.

Keith Smith (6-4) took the loss. He gave up five hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings. Lutz (7-1) gave up seven hits and struck out four.

“We were told that Smith throws hard and he would be tough to hit, but we’ve faced guys that throw harder all season,” Notre Dame Coach Tom Dill said.

Notre Dame will play Nogales, a 5-4 winner over Alhambra, in the quarterfinals Friday.