But the Dana Hills pitchers were not nearly as overpowering or intimidating, yet you would never know it from the boxscore. Through five games (albeit against five Division I clubs), the Matadores have struck out 46 times as opposed to just 20 at this point last year.
Not helping the offensive matters was the fact No. 3 hitter Mike Piazza, the senior firstbaseman who led the team in hitting and RBI during American Legion and winterball, was on crutches a second straight day with groin/hip/ankle maladies. Trying to fight through severe pain that has kept him up at nights the past couple of weeks and now has him on Vicatin, Piazza only managed to aggravate his injuries and his status is very up in the air for at least the near future.
Despite the batting woes, the Matadores were locked into a 1-1 tie through five innings behind the dominating pitching of senior Kyle Harper, the reigning Suburban League Pitcher of the Year. Harper struck out eight in his five-plus innings and allowed just three hits, but it was that "plus" that hung the hardluck righty with another loss to drop to 0-3.
The tiring Harper opened the sixth inning by hitting the first batter, prompting the hook from coach Kim Brooks. A hard single greeted topnotch reliever Alex Pedroza, then a sacrifice bunt down the thirdbase line turned into a throwing error and a bases-loaded, no-out jam.
Another errant toss, one way over the firstbaseman's head, gave the Dolphins a 3-1 lead, which was increased to 5-1 in the seventh with a two-run bomb over the centerfield fence by catcher Brian Choi, who overcame an 0-for-3 and two strikeouts to that point.
Dana Hills first took the lead with a run in the fourth but the Matadores responded in the bottom half on leftfielder Justin Torres' rope to leftcenter and his Division I running back speed to beat the throw at second with an aggressive gridiron-like slide.
After a wild pitch brought Torres to third, his CIF football championship buddy Daniel Poncedeleon drove him in with a fundamental ground ball out the other way.
But that was it for the La Mirada offense, managing just senior centerfielder Jesse McHenry's second hit and two base on balls by others the rest of the way. The lefthand-hitting McHenry led off the first inning with a sharp single up the middle and then went the other way for a linedrive safety in the fifth, but was stranded at second both times.
La Mirada dropped to 0-2 on Saturdays and 3-6 overall the past two seasons.