PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : St. Bernard Finds Ace St. Anthony Hurler No Puzzle in 10-2 Victory

St. Bernard High School’s Sean Dunbar has already figured out what most Camino Real League baseball players still want to know: the secret to hitting St. Anthony ace Eric Mooney.

Mooney, a 6-foot-3 left-handed power pitcher, has baffled most of the league’s teams this season, including El Segundo, the top-ranked team in the Division 2-A.

But so far he hasn’t fooled Dunbar, who hit a pair of home runs off Mooney in St. Bernard’s 10-2 victory Wednesday over host St. Anthony at Guesno Field in Long Beach.

The key: “You’ve got to jump on the first one you see,” said Dunbar, St. Bernard’s junior second baseman. “Otherwise, he’ll make you hit his pitch.”

In the first inning Wednesday, Mooney left a fastball up over the plate and Dunbar stroked it the opposite way over the 286-foot marker on the right-field fence for a two-run homer.

Leading off the second, Dunbar drilled Mooney’s first pitch of the inning--another fastball--over the 312-foot sign in right for a solo shot.

“I guess I like that alley,” Dunbar said.

Wednesday was the second time Mooney has been hit hard by St. Bernard this season. He struck out 13 but gave up nine hits and four walks. Mooney (4-4) was also hurt by five St. Anthony errors, four of which came in St. Bernard’s five-run first.

The high-kicking left-hander was also victimized by stolen bases. St. Bernard pulled off seven thefts on the afternoon, including two steals of home--one by Jeff Richardson in the first inning and another by John Coleman, the South Bay’s leading base-stealer, in the fourth.

“Mooney wasn’t holding runners on base too well,” St. Bernard Coach Bob Yarnall said. “That’s the first time we’ve ever stolen home twice in one game. It was kind of shady over there by third base, and Mooney didn’t have a good view of the runner.”

St. Bernard first baseman Phil Ruhl added a homer and a double for two RBIs. Right-hander Andy Diver (6-1) allowed only one run--a homer by Mooney--en route to the victory. St. Anthony got its second run on a homer by Sylvester Harris off reliever Grant Hohman.

The victory moves St. Bernard (11-2 overall, 7-1 in league) into a first-place tie with El Segundo. St. Anthony (7-8, 6-2) drops to third.

El Segundo was a 13-4 winner over St. Bernard last Friday. The next match-up between the league-leading teams won’t come until May 11, the last day of the season.

“Our kids were on a mission today,” Yarnall said. “We felt some of our momentum was taken away in the El Segundo game by the umpires. So we were out to prove that we’re a good baseball team.”

El Segundo 3, St. Ignatius of San Francisco 0--Lopsided victories have become almost routine for El Segundo, a team averaging 13 runs a game. Occasionally, though, the Eagles have had to rely on their fine pitching staff.

That was the case Wednesday, as senior right-hander Rob Croxall pitched a six-hit shutout in the first round of the San Luis Obispo Tournament.

El Segundo (15-2) will meet either Hueneme of Oxnard or San Luis Obispo in the second round of the eighth-team tournament at 7 tonight.

Croxall (5-1), who entered Wednesday’s game with a team-leading 1.29 ERA, struck out six and walked three. The Eagles supported him with one run in the first inning and two in the fifth.

Mark Lewis tripled in the first and scored on Garret Quaintance’s double. With two outs in the fifth, Jason Wayt with another single, and quaintance scored on a throwing error.