PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Bishop Montgomery Strands 10, Bows to Mater Dei Nine, 5-0

Throw out one bad inning in Bishop Montgomery’s 5-0 loss to Mater Dei on Wednesday night at Torrance Park and the Knights still would have lost.

But that second inning, when the visiting Monarchs scored three unearned runs on three Bishop Montgomery errors, set the tone for a game.

From then, Mater Dei would get the timely hits while the Knights couldn’t do anything with pitcher Tony Pena.

Bishop Montgomery had just five hits in the contest but stranded 10 runners and committed four errors.

“Basically, it’s just very frustrating,� said Bishop Montgomery Coach Bob Anderson. “When you leave as many runners on base as we did, you’re not going to win many baseball games. We weren’t able to string any hits together and that was definitely the difference in the ballgame.�

The Knights threatened in the first when they strung together two hits and a walk off Pena (7-0). However, they came away empty-handed.

Jason Kirrer led off the Mater Dei second with a double, followed by Ryan Anderson’s infield hit. Vic Boyd grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Kirrer. Anderson, who had advanced to second on a wild pitch, went to third.

Greg Carl hit a sharp liner that left fielder Andrew Branch misplayed into a two-base error, scoring Anderson. Carl stole third and came home on pitcher Erik Russell’s second wild pitch of the inning.

Branch relieved Russell to start the third and was effective, but the damage had been done and Pena had all the runs he needed.

“I had a lot of mechanical problems today,� said Russell (2-3). “I was not pitching like I should and I was probably a little nervous because we were playing Mater Dei and all.�

The Knights had beaten Mater Dei once before, handing the Monarchs their lone Angelus League loss, and draw Mater Dei again on Saturday in the rubber match of the series.

Mater Dei improved to 6-1 in league while Bishop Montgomery fell to 3-4. The Knights are still secure in third place in the league standings.

“We’ll just have to go out and regroup and put this one behind us,� Anderson said. “Armando Cervantes, our guy who beat them the first time, is pitching again Saturday, and hopefully the results will be the same.�

Third baseman Dudley Callahan had two hits for Bishop Montgomery, while Kirrer was three for four and Carl two for three for Mater Dei.

Redondo 11, Mira Costa 8--Brian Davison’s lead-off triple ignited a six-run outburst in the seventh inning that carried the Sea Hawks to an Ocean League victory at Mira Costa.

Winning pitcher Mike Houck followed Davison with a single to snap a 5-5 tie, and Redondo scored five more runs on a single by Ian Martin, two Mira Costa errors, a hit batter, a walk and a fielder’s choice.

Redondo finished with 11 hits against Mira Costa pitchers Jason Garner and Bobby Dominguez, neither of whom could get his curve over for strikes.

“We just gave it away,� said Mira Costa Coach Jim Beaumont, whose team squandered a 5-3 lead. “But I have to give Redondo credit because they hit the ball well.�

Mira Costa, which scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh, stayed a half game ahead of Redondo in second place in the Ocean standings at 5-2. The Mustangs are 9-5 overall.

Houck paced Redondo (8-9, 4-2) with a double, two singles and two RBIs, and Davison went two for four with one RBI.

North Torrance 6, South Torrance 1--John Clem’s two-run single highlighted a four-run first inning and right-hander Ty Tout blanked South on three hits through six innings as the Saxons reached the .500 mark for the first time this season with an Ocean League win at home.

North, which struggled earlier in the year, improved to 8-8-1 overall and 4-3 in league play with its fifth straight victory.

Leading 6-0, North Coach Mike Neily pulled Tout (2-1) in the seventh for reliever Brian Dessert, who gave up a home run.

The Saxons scored all of their runs in the first two innings. Clem was three for three with two runs scored and a stolen base, his 17th of the year.

St. Bernard 7, St. Anthony 0--Senior right-hander Al Ibarra pitched a two-hitter and Dan Melendez went three for three, including his eighth home run of the season, in an easy Camino Real League victory at St. Bernard.

Melendez’s solo shot to left-center field in the fifth inning was his 27th career home run, leaving him five behind the CIF-Southern Section record of 32 set by Scott Sharts of Simi Valley in 1986-88.

Melendez finished with two RBIs and two stolen bases, while Jeff Richardson contributed an RBI single and two stolen bases.

Ibarra (3-1) struck out six in one of his best outings of the year.

Banning 15, Dorsey 2--James Gonzales drove in four runs and sophomore Raul Diaz had three RBIs to power a 15-hit attack for the Pilots in a Southern-Pacific Conference win at Banning.

Jesse Espinoza led the Pilots with three hits in five at-bats, including a double, and had two RBIs as Banning increased its league-leading record to 7-2 and overall mark to 11-6.

Right-hander Jesus Olea pitched five innings for the victory, allowing two runs on three hits.

Culver City 19, West Torrance 7--The Centaurs collected 11 hits and 15 walks off three West pitchers en route to a runaway Ocean League win at West.

Tim Mitchell went three for five with two RBIs and Todd Steverson hit a two-run homer for Culver City (7-0 in league play). West fell to 4-12 overall and 3-4 in the league.