HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL GAME OF THE DAY

By Ben Bolch

April 10, 2009 12 AM PT

Huntington Beach Marina (12-2)

at Norco (9-2), tonight at 7

Why it matters: This semifinal of the Darryl Kile Memorial Tournament matches two of the top pitchers in Southern California in UC Irvine-bound left-hander Paul Strong (3-1, 1.90 earned-run average) of Marina and Cal State Fullerton-bound right-hander Wes Hatton (3-0, 1.17) of Norco. The Cougars, ranked No. 24 in the Southland by The Times, also feature pitcher/first baseman Matt Hobgood, who hit his sixth homer Thursday during a 5-0 victory over Wildomar Elsinore. No. 9 Marina is led on offense by junior catcher Vinny Ponce, who is hitting .496.

-- Ben Bolch

High School Sports

Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL GAME OF THE DAY

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