SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Sonora’s Miller Gets Job Done : Division II: His pitching shuts down San Luis Obispo. For good measure, he provides plenty of offense.

David Miller’s Saturday afternoon began in record-breaking fashion at the plate. After that, he turned his attention to the mound and pitched Sonora to a 7-2 victory in the Southern Section Division II championship game at Anaheim Stadium.

Miller, a junior right-hander, pitched a six-hitter against San Luis Obispo and his run-scoring double in the first inning gave Sonora a lead it never relinquished.

Miller’s drive down the left-field line also set a school record for hits (44). He broke a mark set nine years ago by Bryan Beals.

“I felt loose and really confident my first time up,” Miller said. “We got the momentum on our side early and it was on our side the whole game.”

Miller never allowed San Luis Obispo to put up a fight. He scattered six hits, struck out six and walked one, keeping the Tigers off balance with off-speed pitches.

Miller (9-3) retired nine of the first 10 batters. By the time San Luis Obispo put runners in scoring position in the fourth, it trailed, 5-0. With runners on second and third and no outs, the Tigers managed a sacrifice fly, but Miller got Doug Morales to ground out to short and he struck out Brian Villa to end the inning.

San Luis Obispo put its first two runners on base in the fifth, but Miller struck out designated hitter Brian Williamson and got Eddie Bernhardt to ground into a force play. Brian Dignan then got the Tigers’ last run on a drag-bunt single.

After pitching out of another jam in the sixth, Miller shut down San Luis Obispo in order in the seventh.

“He was tiring in the fifth and sixth innings and to go out and get them one, two, three in the seventh is some kind of poise for a junior,” Sonora co-Coach Pat Tellers said.

It was Miller’s third playoff victory and pitching coach Rich Lodding said the changeup Miller learned midway through the season has turned things around.

“He threw a splitter at the beginning of the season and we faced a guy who threw a good changeup against us and killed us,” Lodding said. “I told him that’s what you should be throwing, and we worked on it and ever since than, his whole season has turned around.”

Miller, with a .454 batting average, five home runs and 36 RBIs, proved he’s a hot commodity at both ends of a fastball.