Pali High Baseball Is Hot Versus Hart

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When Palisades High baseball coach Mike Voelkel finalized this year’s schedule he figured last Saturday’s game against Newhall Hart would be one of the toughest. On paper it should have been, but the Dolphins played their best game of the season and rode the rocket arm of ace left-hander Mason Edwards to an 11-1 victory in six innings at George Robert Field.

Palisades took control from the start. After Edwards gave up a two-out double over center fielder Amari Yolas’ head he got the Indians’ next batter to fly out and the Dolphins sprinted back to their dugout with a chance to score first. Jack Woods    got hit by a pitch, Yolas singled to left and Zach Gresham walked to load the bases. After a shallow fly to left and a pop out, Wesley Wells drew a walk to force home Woods.

Then Yolas showed off his blazing speed by alertly stealing home to double the lead. Edwards struck out the side in the second and allowed only a leadoff walk in the third. In the bottom half Yolas doubled,  stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nate Sterling. It remained 3-0  until the bottom of the fifth, thanks in part to a sparkling defensive play to end the top of the fourth by third baseman Woods, who bare-handed a bunt down the line and threw across the diamond in midair to nab Hart’s fastest runner at first base.

Palisades scored six times in the fifth, keyed by Gresham’s double to the right field fence and RBI singles by Sterling, Logan Bailey, Yonah Cohen and Alexander Loos. Hart scored its run on an errant pickoff throw in the sixth, but Woods began the bottom half with a single before Yolas, Gresham, Sterling and Bailey walked to force in the last two runs. Edwards  tossed a one-hitter with eight strikeouts as Palisades improved its record to 7-1—its best start in Voelkel’s 16 seasons.

Palisades entered the game confident after sweeping a doubleheader with Westchester the day before. In the afternoon contest, Ryan Higgins struck out six Comets in a 17-2 win.

In the night game John Iacono threw a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts to win 14-0. Palisades has not lost to Westchester since a 4-3 home defeat on April 2, 2014, before anyone on the current roster was a teenager.