LAS FLORES – Aliso Niguel’s Kyle Molnar knows that his job does not change each time he takes the mound.
His coaches have told him to pitch to contact and not to worry about cranking up the velocity.
That mentality is a little easier to accept when the Wolverines’ bats are as hot as they were in Wednesday’s South Coast League game against Tesoro.
Aliso Niguel banged out 17 hits to blow out the rival Titans, 14-1, at Tesoro High.
Molnar (3-1) allowed one run over five innings, recording just one strikeout. It’s a line he happily cashed in for the win.
“It gave me some comfort on the mound even though I didn’t have all of my stuff,” Molnar said of the offensive breakout. “When we’re hitting so well like we did today, you want to get out there and get back in as fast as you can so that we can get the bats going again.”
Molnar had received just two runs of support over his past 13 innings. The Wolverines (6-4, 2-1) scored four runs in the first, batting around to send their starter out with a working lead.
“That was huge for us to get runs in the first,” Wolverines coach Craig Hanson said. “We’ve been struggling offensively all season. Stringing some hits together and putting up a crooked number was huge for our confidence, and it just carried over throughout the game.”
Trent Pohl drove in two with a bases-loaded single. Molnar added an RBI single and Remy Wasserbach had a sacrifice fly as Aliso Niguel excelled in situational hitting. The Wolverines went 12 for 22 (.545) with runners in scoring position.
Eric Wagaman had a bases-clearing double in the third to make it 9-0. Pohl knocked in three runs with three hits, and Demetri Colacchio also had a three-hit game.
“It’s really nice,” Wagaman said of the team’s success with runners in scoring position. “Finally we get a big win like this. We need more clutch hits like that.”
In an oddity, Tesoro (7-4, 0-2) had played in five consecutive shutouts, going 2-3 in that span. Tyler King made sure that streak came to an end by driving in Jason Carbonell from second base in the fifth.
Carbonell went 2 for 2 with a double off the bench.
The Titans turned three double plays.
