By Oscar Martines
The baseball team rallied behind pitcher Francisco Dominguez’s dominating performance to take the series 2-1 against Los Angeles Harbor College in a 6-0 victory.
Dominguez pitched for all nine innings, only allowing LA Harbor to connect with five hits in 100 pitches, and striking out 10 players in the process.
LA Harbor struggled to find an answer against the Huskies pitcher, who only allowed the minimum batters for six straight innings.
The Huskies started off hot in the first inning, with Dominguez striking out two players and getting rid of the third with ease.
At the bottom of the first, the Huskies took advantage of the errors made by LA Harbor pitcher Jonathan Largaespada.
After center fielder Alex Solis walked and took second base after a pitching error, shortstop Richard Ponce landed a bunt to move to first base and allowed Solis to reach third.
After Largaespada walked another player, his next pitch hit second baseman Ruben Hernandez, allowing Solis to score the first run of the game.
Largaespada’s troubles would continue after walking yet another Husky, giving Ponce the chance to score and increase the Huskies’ lead.
Largaespada continued the inning by striking out a player, but on the next play allowed designated hitter Gavin Vogel to hit an RBI groundout to shortstop.
That put catcher Michael Easter in position to score and extend the lead to 3-0 for the Huskies.
Dominguez would make quick work of the LA Harbor batters in the top of the second inning.
In the bottom of the second, Largaespada’s woes reached a breaking point as the first batter he faced was hit by one of his pitches.
The next two Huskies batters would land singles to load the bases, putting them in a position to increase their lead.
Following a strikeout, Hernandez would hit a groundout RBI to third base, allowing third baseman Michael McIntire to advance to home plate, giving the Huskies a 4-0 lead.
Largaespada’s night came to an end after once again hitting another player with a pitch; he played for 1.2 innings, allowing three hits and giving up four runs.
LA Harbor pitcher DJ Orona came in to close out the inning.
The next few innings were uneventful, but included an impressive highlight of Dominguez striking out all three players in the top of the fourth inning.
The Huskies once again took advantage of pitching errors in the bottom of the fifth inning.
With two outs in the inning, Orona was unable to close out, walking one player and allowing first baseman Daniel Vierra to hit a double to center field.
When it seemed as though things could not get worse for Orona, a wild pitch flew past his catcher, giving Vogel the opportunity to run from third base to home plate abd increase the score to 5-0.
Orona would yet again throw another wild pitch, paving the way for Vierra to score another run for the Huskies and grow the lead to 6-0.
Orona would be retired in the bottom of the sixth inning after allowing another Husky to walk.
Orona ended the night having played 3.2 innings, allowing two hits and two runs.
The rest of the game saw Dominguez continue his stellar performance, retiring the next few innings facing the minimum batters he could.
The Huskies’ record improves to 5-12, with a 3-3 record in conference play.