A look at Orange County baseball:
• Dana Hills coach Tom Faris knew his team would be good, but he was unsure how good, before the season began. The Dolphins are in an excellent league, the five-team Sea View League that also has Aliso Niguel and San Clemente in it. The Dolphins are ranked third in Orange County and take a 14-4 overall record and 4-0 league mark into a big series this week against Aliso.
• “The kids are really working hard and playing hard,” Faris said. “Now they’re playing with confidence, which is awesome. Even those games we’ve lost, in three of the four we should have won and the kids realize that.”
• Dana Hills, which has won seven of its past eight games, has a balanced hitting attack. The proof is that four Dolphins share the team lead in RBI with 11: Shawn Kany, Kayman Koen, Reid Lundeen and Jay Schuyler. Louis Raymond and Zach Wolf have 10 RBI apiece. Pitching-wise, Raymond is 6-1 with a 1.91 ERA.
• Wednesday is the first day of the spring letter-of-intent signing period for baseball and several other sports. Baseball coaches, players and players’ parents are invited to inform of us of signings by emailing sfryer@ocregister.com and preps@ocregister.com. We will publish a list of signees in Thursday’s Register. Athletes, parents and coaches can email photos of the signings to preps@ocregister.com to be posted at ocvarsity.com.
• Foothill senior outfielder Alex Diaz last week was 6 for 8 with three home runs, five RBI and five runs scored as the Knights won two Century League games against Esperanza.
• Valencia had won 12 in a row coming into this week, the longest winning streak in county baseball.
• Servite’s win over Mater Dei last week was the Friars’ first varsity baseball triumph over the Monarchs in six years.
• Matt Torretto of Trabuco Hills pitched a no-hitter Saturday in the Mustangs’ 4-0 win over Tustin in a Ryan Lemmon Invitational first-round game. Torretto, a junior, struck out six with one walk.
• The semifinals of the Lemmon Invitational are today at Windrow Park in Irvine, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The tournament is a fundraiser for the Ryan Lemmon Foundation, so there is an admission fee of $5 or $10 for all games.
• The Hard 9 National Classic has second-round games today. Semifinals are Wednesday at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Cal State Fullerton, with the championship game Thursday at 7 p.m. Admission wristbands are $7 a day, $25 for the tournament.
• Cal State Fullerton requires daily parking permits of $8. The permit machines accept debit and credit cards, and $1 and $5 bills.
• Besides those two tournaments, and the Beach Pit Classic that also is underway, other top games this week: today, Sonora at Troy, Aliso Niguel at Dana Hills, Tesoro at Mission Viejo and Oxford Academy vs. Crean Lutheran at Cypress Park; Wednesday, Cypress at JSerra doubleheader; Thursday, Dana Hills at Aliso Niguel, Mission Viejo at Tesoro and Troy at Sonora.
• Huntington Beach ascended to the No. 1 position in the county top 10, which is a poll of five media members. The Oilers replace JSerra at the top.
• If the media poll was a top 25, here is how this panelist would vote for places 11-25: 11. Capistrano Valley (11-8-1); 12. Canyon (9-4); 13. Servite (9-6); 14. Tesoro (14-5); 15. Foothill (7-6); 16. Esperanza (10-4); 17. Valencia (15-2); 18. Sonora (10-6); 19. Mission Viejo (11-7); 20. Pacifica (12-5); 21. Cypress (9-6); 22. Newport Harbor (8-6); 23. Northwood (9-3-1); 24. Orange Lutheran (5-11); 25. Mater Dei (8-9).
• Fullerton forfeited a Freeway League victory over Sunny Hills because a pitcher used in that game went over the CIF statewide limit of 30 outs or three appearances in a calendar week (Monday-Saturday). That result lowered Fullerton’s league record to 2-3 and sent the Indians to fourth place. Fullerton was in a three-way tie for second place.
• JSerra senior pitcher/first baseman Parker Joe Robinson is out indefinitely because of a hamstring injury. Robinson committed to Texas.
• Cypress senior right-handed pitcher Trevor Hall, All-CIF last year, has not pitched in more than a month because of stiffness in his right shoulder.
• Aliso Niguel third baseman Dominic Colacchio might have the oldest walk-up song in county baseball: “Love Machine,” a hit for the Miracles in 1975. Colacchio’s brother recommended it. “It makes me different and it gets me going,” Colacchio explained.
• Follow me at twitter.com/stevefryer for baseball updates and other high school sports news.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
