Posted on 04 April 2014 by La Habra Journal
by Jeremiah Girard
La Habra Journal
The La Habra baseball team could not get their offense going and suffered a 5-0 loss at the hands of the Torrance Tartars, Wednesday at home to close out the Anaheim Lions Tournament.
The Highlanders got just one runner on base in the top of the sixth inning with a pinch-hit lead off single by Jake Tourville. Torrance pitcher, Kyle Smith, threw a complete game shutout.
He only gave up the one hit, and struck out 11 batters with no walks.
“Our guys tried to do too much and tried to cover the whole plate,” said La Habra head coach John Sothern. “Against a guy with talent like that, you need to cut the plate in half and wait for your pitch. If there is a pitch you don’t like even if there is a strike we need to be willing to take.”
Even though he is more than happy with his performance, Smith wanted the perfect game.
“I got that close one other time and the exact same thing happened,” Smith said. “A right hander took an outside pitch and poked it into right field.”
The Highanders kept it close early and only trailed 1-0 after five innings. The only run came in the top of the third after Manny Olloque doubled to right center field. He then stole third with the infield in to stop the bunt.
The next batter, Ryan Eastburn, singled him in and picked up the RBI. Eastburn finished 2-for-3 with an RBI, a run and a walk. Olloque was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk.
The Tartars opened it up in the bottom of the sixth inning. Torrance scored four runs and stole four bases in the inning alone. The big one came on a double steal.
Jacob Gurwell took off to steal second and as he did Billy Bryant took off from third. La Habra second baseman, Kyle Schuh, threw home and the ball got away from Austin Saad allowing Gurwell to take third.
“In a game like this, the team that makes mistakes loses and that is what we did,” Sothern said. “We made some mistakes on things that we have been practicing all season and that let them break open the game.”
The Highlanders head back into Freeway League play with a 2-0 record in league. They will be taking on Troy, Friday, at La Habra. Andrew Gallegos will take the mound.
