La Mirada coach Kim Brooks then did the obvious—intentionally walk cleanup hitter Eric Snyder, who had given the Chargers a 1-0 lead in the fourth with a long home run —and the reigning Suburban League Pitcher of the Year came through with a big pitch again by coaxing a tailor-made double play to shortstop.

Rodriguez, who will be a four-year varsity starter before his prep career is over and who outplayed the more notorious Lopes, fielded the ball cleanly and sidearmed to second baseman Garrin Haile, whose ball over to first to send the game into extra innings floated a tad and got away from normally Gold Glovish firstbaseman Mike Piazza.

A dejected Piazza explained the play afterward:

“I thought the runner was going to be safe, so I tried to stretch out as far and as high as I could but the ball just tipped off the top of my glove,” said Piazza, whose nagging groin and hip injuries might have limited him just enough at the most inopportune of times.

Acclaimed 6-foot-7 lefty Henry Owens sure was limiting himself, allowing just Rodriguez’s home run in the fifth inning and striking out 12 in going the distance. But the junior flamethrower, who easily throws in the 90s and has scouts drooling from here to there, also gave the Matadores numerous chances to win by walking seven and hitting two batters.

In fact, the battling Matadores were retired in order only once when Owens struck out the side in the second. On the flip side, though, La Mirada left 10 men on base, half of them excruciatingly in scoring position.

Certainly there were scouts in attendance with so much talent in both dugouts and Petersen just may be the biggest benefactor from the scrutiny.

The “Dirty Dog” was magnificent, matching Owens inning for inning, pitch for pitch, against an explosive lineup from top to bottom. He got his nasty first-pitch curveball over the plate all day long, baffling and earning the respect of the Chargers. Two of Edison’s biggest stars even made the classy move of coming over to the visitors’ dugout to congratulate Petersen after the game.

“You did a job out there,” one said to Petersen. “Good luck on the year.”

Petersen, whose mental fortitude is as strong as you’ll find on the diamond, struck out his first foe to grab the Chargers’ attention early. Sophomore secondbaseman Timmy Lopes, an impressive sophomore secondbaseman and Christian’s brother, was the victim.

The younger Lopes did get some revenge by crushing a one-out double off the top of the centerfield wall in the third inning. But just as he did by getting out of a second-and-third jam in the second inning, Petersen bore down and induced two groundouts to keep the game scoreless.

It was the Matadores’ turn to let a big opportunity get away by leaving bases loaded in the fourth, which proved even more painful when the lefthanded-hitting Snyder led off the bottom half with his no-doubter over the right-center fence. The Chargers kept up the heat with a single, double and a walk to load the bases but somehow Petersen dug into his ample reserves and escaped without any more damage on two drawn-in infield ground outs and a wicked, wicked “Dirty Dog” curveball to exact his own vengeance with another strikeout on Timmy Lopes.

Riding a little momentum, the Matadores’ struck right back when Rodriguez drilled a 3-2 pitch over the leftcenter wall, prompting his teammates and the La Mirada fans to display even more confidence in pulling off the upset.

Petersen battled into sixth when he finally tired. He allowed a hard single to the leadoff batter but catcher Nick Mandry made his best thrown down of the season to erase the base-stealing threat. After a fly out, Petersen just couldn’t get that one final batter that Brooks was desperately trying to wring out of him, so after a hit batter and a rope to left put runners on first and third, Harper went from thirdbase to the mound to get a third strikeout over Timmy Lopes.

The Matadores rushed in to face a laboring Owens, whose fastball was clearly dipping after 100-plus pitches. He almost gave up another dinger to Rodriguez, who flew deep to center, then walked senior centerfielder Karl Perez and plunked Piazza. But Owens showed loads of heart and experience, too, and got the next two batters to complete his heroic outing.