SHERMAN OAKS — From an early age, children learn not to judge a book by its cover.
In sports, the adage goes “don’t judge a team by their record.”
Notre Dame’s baseball team added validity to that saying Tuesday by pitching a shutout and scoring seven runs in a 7-0 victory at home against Harvard-Westlake, which is No. 2 in the Daily News rankings.
The Mission League win was a big boost for a Notre Dame team that last week was dealt a 23-2 loss by Alemany.
That loss didn’t matter Tuesday, as the Knights (9-10 overall, 6-5 league) played near-perfect baseball, putting together strong at-bats and playing sticky defense. The infielders were consistently in the right place at the right time while outfielders made impressive catches when necessary.
Junior right-hander Juju Diaz-Jones, Notre Dame’s starting pitcher, allowed three hits and no runs over seven innings by consistently finding the strike zone. He tallied seven strikeouts.
He credited his teammates for having his back in important situations.
“We played good defense, that’s been a bit of a struggle but that good defense led to a win,” Diaz-Jones said. “All I had to do was do my job and complete my pitches.”
At the plate, Notre Dame took control early and never let go. Three errors by Harvard-Westlake kept things moving along.
The Knights set the tone with a surge of runs in the first inning. After junior outfielder Jake Norolan walked and first baseman Dominic Cadiz drove the ball off the left-field wall. His single was the first baton passed, leading the way to three runs in the inning for the Knights.
Cadiz had two hits in four plate appearances. Junior infielder Malakye Matsumoto also had two hits.
Matsumoto’s shining moments came in the bottom of the fifth and seventh. After taking his pitches and walking, Matsumoto stole second and ran home on a double from Dru Wilson, earning Notre Dame its fourth run.
Diaz-Jones said Notre Dame head coach Tom Dill, in his 34th season of coaching, emphasized to the players the importance of the game and defending their home turf.
“He was mentioning how our record doesn’t show us as a team,” Diaz-Jones said. “He really mentioned how we shouldn’t lose at home. If they (Harvard-Westlake) step into our home, we got to defend it.”
Harvard-Westlake had a game to forget Tuesday, but it remains second in the Mission League. It has a rematch against Notre Dame on Wednesday, and down the road is a series against first-place Crespi that might decide the league title.
Notre Dame’s game Wednesday against Harvard-Westlake at O’Malley Family Field begins at 3:30 pm.
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