Baseball: South Hills beats Chino Hills, 1-0 to force 3-way tie for first in Sierra League

South Hills' Erik Martinez is mobbed by teammates after a RBI double in the sixth inning of a prep baseball game against Chino Hills at South Hills High School in West Covina, Calif., on Friday, April 18, 2014. South Hills won 1-0. (Keith Birmingham Pasadena Star-News)

South Hills’ Erik Martinez is mobbed by teammates after a RBI double in the sixth inning of a prep baseball game against Chino Hills at South Hills High School in West Covina, Calif., on Friday, April 18, 2014. South Hills won 1-0. (Keith Birmingham Pasadena Star-News)

By Stephen Ramirez
steve.ramirez@langnews.com
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter


WEST COVINA — It was against conventional wisdom, but sometimes the correct call in baseball is to play a hunch.
The latter worked for host South Hills on Friday.
Erik Martinez, batting for the first time this season, came through with a RBI single in the sixth inning to lead South Hills to a 1-0 victory over Chino Hills in a key Sierra League game.
Gavin Velasquez threw a six-hit shutout with five strikeouts for the Huskies, who improved to 14-3-1 overall. The win also put South Hills, Chino Hills and Damien tied for first with 5-2 league records. Chino Hills, which got a solid effort on the mound from Aaron Dominguez is 14-4 overall.
Quinn Cotter, who had double in the second, doubled in the sixth with two outs. Murphy then played his hunch, sending up Martinez to hit for catcher Corey Cadek. The senior then hit a ground-ball single to right field to score Cotter for a 1-0 lead.
Velasquez, who beat Chino Hills earlier this season, made it stand up in the seventh. He gave up a one-out single Tyrus Lineberger before striking out JP Hopkins and getting Izzy Fuentes on a fly out to end the game.
South Hills coach Darren Murphy: “I look like a fool if he strikes out on three pitches. But Erik is a good athlete and in the past he’s hit well, just hasn’t done much hitting here at South Hills. It was just a hunch, it was luck. But Erik made me look good today.”

South Hills’ Erik Martinez: “Coach told me to get ready, so I just tried to get mentally ready. I was just trying to put the ball in play, and luckily it got through.”

Chino Hills’ Aaron Dominguez: “It was a good game. We played hard. Sometimes luck is not on your side.”

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