Baseball: Orange Lutheran wins, 2-0; Cole strikes out 10

Orange Lutheran's Gerrit Cole didn't have one of his best games -- his words, not mine -- but he still managed to throw a two-hitter and get 10 strikeouts. If he can get 10 strikeouts and give up only two hits on an off-night, I wonder what he can do on a good night?

Lutheran beat Riverside North, 2-0, at Hart Park in Orange on Thursday night to advance to the second round of the Southern Section-Toyota Division I playoffs -- they'll play El Modena, which beat Aliso Niguel, 6-1, earlier in the day, on Tuesday at a site to be determined.

The scoreboard doesn't show it, but Lutheran had many chances to score more runs. The Lancers went 0 for 5 when batting with the bases loaded, stranding a combined nine runners in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings alone. Chalk it up to playoff jitters, said Lutheran Coach Mike Grahovac. The Lancers, who had three sophomores in the starting lineup, had a lot of players who were in their first playoff game.

If their bats ever wake up, the Lancers, who are the No. 2-seeded team in the division, might be the team to beat.

But, as "Dandy" Don Meredith used to say, 'If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas. The Lancers need to prove they can score more runs in their next game.

Even if they don't, that's OK with Grahovac. "We've had the philosophy all year that if we get 1 or 2 runs we'll win the game, especially with Cole on the mound but with the other pitchers as well," Grahovac said.

Cole, who recorded his sixth straight complete game and his third consecutive shutout, improved to 8-1 with 108 strikeouts. He allowed only four balls to leave the infield, three of them were fly outs. One of the hits he gave up was an infield single.

Cole also went one for three at the plate with a single and a run batted in.

Senior second baseman Tyler Smith, who was two for three, scored both runs.

-- Jaime Cardenas