Valley Dodgers KO Third Victim in Regional Play

And you thought Mike Tyson was tough.

Well, forget what he did to Michael Spinks. The Southern California semipro baseball tournament is now on the canvas, with one hand dangling from the last rope, and the Valley Dodgers are walking to their corner.

The Dodgers recorded their third knockout in as many days Friday, this time using a pair of towering home runs and strong pitching from Mike Fhyrie and Sean Casey to drop Inland Valley by a 7-2 count at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino.

Steve Hosey, who missed the first two games, answered the bell with a 4-for-5 effort and a home run. Mark Gieseke added three hits, giving him seven for the tournament. Fhyrie struck out eight in seven innings to improve his record to 5-0. Casey pitched the last three innings in relief, striking out three, as the two combined to limit Inland Valley to six hits.

Valley meets Brea tonight at 8 at Fiscalini Field in a game matching the tournament’s only undefeated teams.

The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead with a two-out rally in the first inning. Jeff Light singled with one out, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored when Mark Gieseke followed a walk to Hosey with an infield single. Ted Higgins singled to drive in Hosey.

Valley extended its lead to 4-0 in the third on Hosey’s two-run home run. Light led off with a walk, the seventh consecutive time he had reached base, and went to second on a wild pitch. Albert Kolesar followed with a double to right, but Light was thrown out by five steps trying to score. Hosey then deposited Zac Reeder’s hanging curveball over the left-center field fence.

Bill Eatinger broke up Fhyrie’s shutout with a two-run homer in the third. Fhyrie hit Pete Houston with a pitch with two outs and Eatinger followed with a blast over the right-center field fence. The two runs were the first earned runs off Dodger pitching in 15 tournament innings.

Valley (23-6) added single runs in both the fourth and fifth innings on a towering home run from Henderson and a run-scoring single by Gieseke.

The final Dodger run came in the ninth when Corey Aurand scored on a wild pitch after walking, advancing to second on a ground out and stealing third.