CSUN Coach Puts On Clinic in No-Hit Win : Penner, Valley Dodgers Whip San Diego, 12-0

There was plenty of punch and pitching in the Valley Dodgers’ semipro baseball game Wednesday, and it all came from the guys in the white uniforms with the word “Dodgers” stitched across their chests.

The Dodgers were so dominant, in fact, that their first-round National Baseball Congress Southern California tournament game against San Diego Rainbow Steel was called after five innings with the Dodgers leading, 12-0, at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino.

The game was shortened because of the 10-run mercy rule.

The Dodgers’ Dan Penner tossed a no-hitter and struck out five to raise his record to 4-0. Penner, who is the pitching coach at Cal State Northridge, went from teaching the Matadors lessons to giving San Diego a textbook display, retiring the first eight San Diego batters and only allowing two baserunners, both on walks.

“I was hitting good spots with my fastball and staying ahead, and they were always fighting to stay alive,” Penner said.

Penner, who had not pitched for two weeks, threw 74 pitches. He notched two five-inning no-hitters last year while pitching for Santa Maria.

“I usually run up in the high altitude, so I have a lot of energy when I come down here,” said Penner, who lives in Frazier Park.

The Dodgers pounded three San Diego pitchers for 11 hits and scored all the runs they needed with a three-run outburst in the first inning. Bill Bluhm’s single and back-to-back doubles by Mark Gieseke and Jeff Light keyed the rally.

The Dodgers knocked San Diego starter Eric Estey out of the game with two more runs in the second. Ted Higgins led off with a double and scored when second baseman Tim Quin tossed Glenn Stevenson’s grounder into the San Diego dugout. Stevenson stole second, went to third on a wild pickoff attempt and scored on Lorenzo Lesky’s sacrifice fly.

Valley made the game look like an Arena Football contest in the third, scoring seven runs on six hits. Light drove in a run with a single and Stevenson made it 8-0 with a two-out single. Corey Aurand and Lesky walked to load the bases for Albert Kolesar, who deposited Rod Wilburn’s first pitch into the flower bushes behind the left-center-field fence for a grand slam. It was Kolesar’s fourth homer of the season.

“They came out and hit the ball and their pitcher was outstanding,” San Diego Coach Dave Bridges said.

Bluhm, Light and Stevenson each had two hits for the Dodgers. Kolesar drove in four runs and Light and Stevenson each had two RBIs.

The Dodgers (21-6) meet La Jolla at noon today at Fiscalini Field. La Jolla advanced without playing a game when San Marcos dropped out of the tournament. The Dodgers swept La Jolla in a June 11 doubleheader.

Brea 8, San Bernardino 4--Brea’s Jeff Farber blasted a two-run home run over the 387-foot mark in center field to tie the score in the eighth, and the Brewers added four unearned runs on three Indian errors.

San Bernardino, the defending champion, committed eight errors.

Inland Valley Pioneers 14, San Diego Gems 2--Bill Eatinger and Tim Burroughs each were 4 for 5 as Inland Valley pounded 19 hits in a game that was shortened to seven innings because of the 10-run rule.

Ron Bunse, Brian Parsons and Tony Richards combined to limit the Gems to seven hits.

Las Vegas 7, South Bay O--Chance Gledhill and Tony Killebrew combined to throw a five-hit shutout and Las Vegas collected 14 hits at UC Riverside.

David Baxter was 5 for 5 for Las Vegas.

Orange County 2, San Diego Stars 1--Nick Long’s single with two out in the bottom of the 10th scored Tod Rolph to give Orange County the win. Rolph had led off the inning with a single.

San Diego’s Tommy Mitchell tied the score in the top of the eighth with a solo home run, a 440-foot shot over the left-center-field fence.

Vern Ruhle, a former major league pitcher, threw the first seven innings for Orange County. John Rincon picked up the win.

Willie Blas (5-2) went the distance for San Diego, striking out nine.