CITY BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : SILVER GETS BIG OUT FOR CHATSWORTH.

Byline: Daily News

It was a classic confrontation.

And Chatsworth pitcher Andrew Silver came away the winner, getting Carson slugger Eric Burris to fly out to center field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve a 6-4 Chancellors victory in a City Section 4-A quarterfinal in Carson on Thursday.

``He's a tough kid,'' said Chancellors coach Tom Meusborn, whose team will face Poly Tuesday in a 4-A semifinal at Birmingham High. ``We had the right guy on the hill at the right time - and he did the job.''

Carson had the right guy on the hill, too, in junior left-hander Mike Hernandez (9-2).

But Hernandez - who allowed just four hits and struck out 12 - gave up four of his seven walks in a four-run first inning for Chatsworth. And though the Colts (23-9) rallied to tie in the fourth, they couldn't overcome Hernandez's early wildness.

``It would have been nice to get out of (the first inning) a little cheaper than we did,'' said Colts coach Mike Kline.

Chatsworth got only two hits after the first inning, both by left fielder Frank DiPoma.

DiPoma drove a Hernandez fastball over the left-field fence in the fifth inning to give the Chancellors (22-6) a 5-4 lead. He singled up the middle in the top of the seventh to drive in Danny Phillips to make it 6-4.

Then came Silver's golden moment.

Two soft scratch hits, a sacrifice and a walk loaded the bases for the Colts. But Silver didn't despair.

He struck out Carson shortstop Fernando Garcia - the only Colts strikeout of the game - for the second out.

And then he took on Burris, the Colts' strong and able No. 3 hitter.

Silver said even though the runner on third was meaningless, he gave no thought to pitching around Burris.

``I just wanted to go after him,'' said Silver (7-3), who came on in the fourth in relief of starter Stuart Sellz.

Silver worked a 2-2 count on Burris, who then hit a high fly ball to center field for the final out.

``I could live with him beating me with a hit, but I couldn't live with me beating myself by pitching around him,'' he said.

Instead, the entire Chancellors team lives on to play in the semifinals.

SOURCE: Bill Schlotter

Poly 10, Reseda 1: Steve Guerrero, an All-City third baseman, showed he also can pitch. He had a no-hitter through five innings and led the Parrots into the 4-A semifinals with an easy home victory.

Guerrero struck out four, walked three and allowed only three hits to improve to 8-1.

``I just try to beat the batter,'' Guerrero said. ``Try to think what he's thinking.''

He also drove in three of Poly's runs on two hits.

Poly (26-5-1) opened the scoring on a two-run single by Guerrero in the first, scoring leadoff hitter Lucas LaTouf and Travis McGivern. LaTouf went 3 for 5 for the Parrots. Clean-up hitter Adrian Perez went 2 for 4 with three RBI.

Reseda (14-9) struggled equally from the field as from the plate. The Regents committed three errors, all of which led to runs scored. They had just three hits.

SOURCE: Kathy Orton

Eagle Rock 8, Garfield 4: The Eagles (17-5) scored the game's final six runs, including four in the ninth, to propel them to the City Section 3-A semifinals against Narbonne. Marco Hernandez had four hits, including the go-ahead two-run single in the ninth inning.