Porras, Glendale High baseball go out winners against rival Hoover
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GLENDALE — Glendale and Hoover high renewed their rivalry on the baseball diamond in a Pacific League game that was the season finale for both squads.
Nitros pitcher Jack Porras made sure it was the host Nitros who finished with a win as the senior threw a three-hitter, shutting out the visiting Tornadoes, 1-0, Wednesday afternoon at Sam Harvey Field.
“I was just so nervous going in knowing it was my last game,” Porras said. “So I knew I had to go out with a bang and I’m glad we got the win, [versus] Hoover too, so that is always a plus.”
PHOTOS: One run is enough for Glendale as Porras shuts out visiting Hoover
Porras threw a gem in his final game as a Nitro, striking out five in the complete game.
“Jack has been hurt all year and it is a season of what might have been, because a healthy Jack, he can beat anybody, any time, so it was nice to get him healthy,” Glendale Coach Alan Eberhart said.
Porras faced just two batters over the minimum en route to shutting out Hoover and securing a sixth-place finish in the Pacific for Glendale (7-18, 5-9 in league). He consistently got ahead of hitters, getting an 0-1 count on 14 of the 23 batters Hoover (7-17, 4-10) sent to the plate, including the first eight of the game.
“I just tried to get ahead early. [The Tornadoes] are great hitters when they go up [in the count], so I had to get ahead and get them into pitcher’s counts,” Porras said.
Porras faced the minimum number of batters through the first five innings and did so despite yielding a leadoff single to Hoover’s Javier Cisneros in the third and hitting Fidel Hernandez in the back with a pitch with two out in the fourth as both Tornado base runners were thrown out on the base paths trying to steal.
The only other hits Porras gave up were a harmless single to J.P. Gallegos in the sixth and a one-out double to Hernandez, who stayed stuck at second base as the next two batters for Hoover flew out to end the contest.
“We’ve been swinging the bats OK up to this point, but [Porras] just silenced them again,” Hoover Coach Brian Esquival, who lost twice last season to Porras, said.
Hoover starter Jonathan Ramos had a very strong outing despite taking the loss. The senior pitched a four-hitter for the Tornadoes. All four hits were singles and they were spread out evenly over the first four innings.
“[Ramos] has been solid for us all year, throwing strikes and keeping us in ballgames,” Esquival said.
The only run of the game came in the bottom of the third. Ramos plunked Nitro Keyvan Duran square in the back to start the frame. Then, with two outs, Orlando Diez swatted a single that drove Duran in from second base for the eventual winning run.
“[Diez] did a good job staying back on a breaking ball, hitting the ball up the middle; that’s baseball,” Esquival said.
Wednesday’s game between the rivals, originally scheduled for this Friday but moved back two days in order to eliminate the possibility of a rainout, was the final high school game for 12 seniors on the two squads.
“We’re sad to leave this game this way,” Ramos, one of seven Hoover seniors, said.
For Glendale, the victory marks the end of the Nitros careers for Porras, Tyler Lousararian, Thaddeus Wilson, Justin French and Damian Orozco.
“For all the seniors it is just a great feeling to go out with a win, since we really haven’t had much success in the past two years,” Porras said. “It’s nice to win the very last one.”
Hoover will lose the contingent of seven seniors: Ramos, Hernandez, Cisneros, Ethan Turpin, Pierce Velazquez, Luis Zamora and Scott Yzamotegui.
“They did something I don’t think a lot of people expected out of them. They brought respect back to the program,” Esquival said. “People knew that when they played these guys they were going to be in a dogfight. ... I don’t want them to go.”