DANA POINT – A pitchers’ duel between Aliso Niguel’s Kyle Molnar and Dana Hills ace Marrick Crouse lived up to expectations Wednesday.
Both starters allowed just one run, but the player who made the greatest impression on the heavily scouted game was Dolphins first baseman Jay Schuyler.
Schuyler sent a towering fly ball over the center-field wall for a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh, sending the Dolphins to a 5-1 win in a South Coast League game at Dana Hills High.
Schuyler went to the plate against Wolverines reliever Josh Whetstone determined to deliver a victory for his team.
“I had a pretty rough day at the plate before that with three strikeouts,” he said.
“If I struck out in that at-bat, I’d be pretty mad. I just wanted to help the team win.”
By winning, the Dolphins (22-4, 4-3) moved into a tie for first place with Capistrano Valley (4-3 in league), which lost to Tesoro on Wednesday. The Wolverines (15-10, 5-4) are in third place.
Dana Hills coach Tom Faris treated the contest as a must-win game for his team.
“We had to win this game. It was like a playoff for me,” Faris said.
The UCLA-bound Molnar retired the first 10 batters he faced. The senior’s only hiccup came in the fourth. Zach Wolf singled and David Clawson drove him in with a double.
Molnar allowed six hits and struck out six in six innings. He also had three hits, including two doubles.
Crouse, who signed with San Francisco State, lasted 6 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and striking out three. Sophomore Hans Crouse (5-0) got the last two outs in the seventh for Dana Hills.
The Wolverines scored their run in the fifth. Domenic Colacchio’s double to the left-field corner drove in Thomas Wick.
