Poly Hands It to Roosevelt, 5-1

Roosevelt High earned a date with Chatsworth in its first City Section championship final by knocking off Poly, 5-1, Thursday night at Birmingham High.

The Roughriders (24-8-1), who will play the Chancellors in a rematch of a 1999 quarterfinal, scored five unearned runs in the sixth inning against left-hander Joe Hampel (7-5) to snap a scoreless tie.

Senior right-hander Junior Iboa (8-2), who sustained a broken cheekbone in April after being struck in the face by a batted ball, pitched a four-hitter, striking out eight and walking two. He held the Parrots (22-7-1) to an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Iboa’s fastball was consistently clocked around 89 mph.

“It was going to be my game this year” Iboa said. “We were going to battle.”

Roosevelt won a school-record 28 games and advanced to the semifinals in 2000. Not since San Pedro in 1992 has a team from outside the Valley won a city title.

“We love playing teams from the Valley,” Coach Scott Pearson said. “I coach a lot in Orange County and people think the best players are in Orange County, but I think they’re in the Valley.”

Roosevelt took a 1-0 lead on a one-out double by A.J. Romero that scored Hector Almeda from first base. Almeda reached base on an error by second baseman Guillermo Lopez.

Iboa was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make the score 2-0, and Edgar Sedano followed with a three-run double.

“[The error] opened up the gates for them,” Hampel said. “I think I had them on their toes, but I can only do so much.”

Hampel went the distance, striking out four and allowing seven hits while escaping trouble in the early innings.

Hampel stranded Roosevelt runners at first and second in the first inning, when he threw 24 pitches. In the first three innings, the Roughriders stranded six runners.

Iboa lost his shutout with two out in the seventh when Alfredo Gomez scored from third on a throwing error by shortstop Sedano on a grounder by Zack Sims.

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CITY SECTION INVITATIONAL, D14