Sports
Onate Saves the Day for Hollywood High
The hard-throwing reliever shuts the door in relief as the Sheiks grind out a 9-7 win at Santee.
Isidro Torres has essentially been the totality of Hollywood High's pitching staff in the early part of the baseball season.
A schedule padded by off days and rainouts allowed the junior to start five of the Sheiks' first seven games, and he had gone the distance in almost every one.
Yet when the right-hander got into a jam against Santee on Wednesday, the Sheiks learned they have a very capable arm to back up their ace.
George Onate replaced a tiring Torres in the fifth inning and closed the door with three innings of outstanding relief in a 9-7 win over the host Falcons.
With the victory, the Shieks improved to 5-2 overall and 3-0 in Southern League play. They complete their home-and-home with Santee on Friday at 7 p.m at Hollywood High.
"We've told George that he's our closer and he's our go-to guy at the end of games," sixth-year Hollywood coach Cary Cauley said. "He throws a really hard, sharp fastball and has a good curveball. He wants the ball and wants to be in the game."
Onate has been a revelation for the Sheiks. He never played organized baseball before last year, but his poise and ability to throw strikes makes him a good fit as a reliever. He struck out seven, overwhelming the opposition at times.
"I came out there and wasn't throwing any balls," the junior said. "My location was there. I was hitting the corners, hitting all my targets, and that's all I want to do."
Onate excelled, but Hollywood has had better games in the field. The Shieks appeared to play down to a middling Santee team that made six errors.
"Our focus and our energy wasn't there based on what they saw during pregame and what they saw in the first inning," Cauley said. "Once (Santee) started hitting the ball and getting back in the game, that's when they had to turn it on."
Hollywood took the lead right away. Leadoff batter Jose Hernandez reached on a throwing error to start the game, moved up two bases on a groundout and second error, and scored on a wild pitch. The Sheiks scratched out another run in the second, then increased the lead to 4-1 when Torres helped his own cause with a two-run single to right field in the third.
Hollywood appeared to put the game away with three more runs in the top of the fifth, including an RBI single by freshman cleanup hitter Alan Ruiz. Working with a 7-2 lead, though, Torres was about to run out of gas.
Torres lost velocity on his fastball and curveball in the bottom of the fifth and Santee took advantage. He walked No. 9 hitter Enrique Moreno to start the inning, then gave up four consecutive hits before being lifted. Onate came into a 7-4 game with runners on second and third and nobody out. He got the next batter to hit a fly ball to deep center that was misplayed, allowing two runs to score and narrowing the Sheiks' lead to 7-6.
That's when Onate beared down, striking out the side. Hollywood added two insurance runs in the top of the sixth, and Onate handled the rest. He finished with seven strikeouts in three innings.
"George hadn't really pitched before, but I had confidence in him," said Torres, who got the win. "I've played with him since we were young, I knew he could come in and back me up. I had confidence and he showed why."
