BASEBALL: Soquel Stays Hot

Soquel 4, Santa Cruz 0

The Star:  senior Nat Hamby pitched seven strong innings en route to a 4-0 victory over on Tuesday afternoon in Santa Cruz. Any trouble that arose, Hamby found a way out of it. The Knights starter struck out two and only yielded two hits through the first six innings of play. Three straight Cardinals hits loaded the bases in the seventh, but back-to-back fly-ball outs left the flock of Cardinals stranded to give Hamby and the Knights the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League victory.

At the plate, Soquel senior Chris Stavrenos was a force in the middle of the order. The first baseman went 3-for-3 and drew a walk in his fourth appearance at the plate. All three knocks were doubles, including a deep shot to the fence in center to open the game's scoring in the first inning. Stavrenos knocked in three of the four Knights runs. Senior Izaak Shoilva cranked a solo home run over the fence in left for the other scoring tally.

The Turning Point: Stavrenos and the Knights offense set the tone of the game in the first inning. After a groundball out, sophomore Scott Akrop lined a single up the gut. Silva followed with a walk before both runners headed home off the RBI double smash from Stavrenos. The two early runs were more than enough for the Knights. Armed with stingy pitching and a slick fielding infield, Soquel won its fifth straight league game to open the 2011 campaign.

The Quotes: “It was huge,” Hamby said about the road victory over Santa Cruz. “Obviously they’re one of our biggest rivals. We started off the game with a couple runs, which is big. They gave me a lead. I know I have a strong defense behind me. Anytime I got in trouble, I just tried to slow things down and make quality pitches.”

The Knights manager was pleased with the performance from his squad on Thursday.

“I have a good corps of players that have bought in to what we’re trying to do,” Soquel head coach Robert Zuniga said. “They’ve committed themselves to the work. That’s the key. We have one of the top defenses in the league. Our pitchers know if they get their ground balls, our guys will get them outs.”

What's Next? Soquel will host in a makeup game today at 3:30 p.m. Harbor fell to , 6-1, in extra innings on Tuesday.

Bottom Line: The Soquel defense came through with several above average defensive plays in the field on Tuesday. Despite their two errors — both balls took some wild hops in the choppy Cardinals infield — the Knights defense cooled several rallies by the home team. The double play combo of Akrop (shortstop) and fellow sophomore Caleb Fidiam at second base ended the first inning and halted a rally try by the Cardinals in the fourth.

It wasn’t just the middle of the field that was secure. Senior third bagger AJ Waltrip topped his infield mates with the web gem of the day to wrap up the bottom half of the fifth. Waltrip made a sweet sliding stop to his left, then hopped up and fired a dart to first base to get the runner by half a step.

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WP: Hamby. LP: Elkin

Records: Soquel 9-2-1, 5-0 SCCAL. Santa Cruz 4-9, 2-3 SCCAL.