El Dorado Gets Back in Empire Title Hunt

El Dorado baseball Coach Steve Gullotti was a model of efficiency Friday.

All it took was one word, “DISAPPOINTERS,” scrawled in heavy black letters at the top of the lineup card hanging in the dugout, to get his point across:

The Golden Hawks, stuck in the middle of the Empire League standings, had failed to live up to the lofty standard they set last year in winning the Southern Section Division III title.

Luckily for Gullotti, it happened that El Dorado pitcher Brian Hoff was efficient too.

Hoff mixed his fastball, changeup and curve well and recorded a three-hit shutout of Kennedy, a 3-0 victory that saw the Golden Hawks go from a team battling to stay in the playoff race to one with a good shot at the league title.

El Dorado (10-6, 6-3) is now only a half-game behind the first-place Fighting Irish (10-5-1, 6-2-1) in the league standings.

“We obviously needed a win to get back into the thick of things,” Gullotti said. “If we lost today, we would have been fighting for a playoff spot the last six games.”

If Hoff continues to pitch like he did Friday, Gullotti and the Golden Hawks should have few worries down the stretch. Hoff (5-2) gave up only three singles, two of which were erased on double plays, to extend his scoreless-inning streak to 18.

“I knew it had to be done today in order for us to compete for the league title,” said Hoff, a senior right-hander. “I just went up there and didn’t give in to their hitters.”

Kennedy starter Robby Legro and reliever Brian Peterson also pitched well, giving up a combined four hits, but were the victims of shoddy defense.

In the third inning, Legro had himself to blame after his high throw to first base on Bryan Jackson’s sacrifice bunt enabled Zach Mullinax to move from first to third. Justin Carlin then singled home Mullinax to give El Dorado a 1-0 lead.

After the Golden Hawks’ Brian Zurhellen hit a home run to left, his fourth homer of the season, to open the bottom of the fourth, Brett Marro greeted Peterson with a double that dropped in front of center fielder Steve Yaden. Marro scored to make it 3-0 when third baseman Shawn Benavente threw wide of first base after fielding Justin Angevine’s grounder.

“Hoff pitched a great game and we made [two] errors,” said Kennedy Coach Chris Pascal, whose team won two of three games against El Dorado this season. “That killed us.”