BY KYLE GLASER
HEMET — For three innings, Tahquitz was able to hold the potent Hemet offense to only one run. But the Bulldogs clearly weren’t actually struggling on offense; they were just biding their time. Hemet used a 5-run fourth inning to take the lead and piled on from there to pick up an 11-4 victory over their crosstown rivals in a Mountain Pass League battle on Wednesday afternoon. The Bulldogs, who average over 10 runs per game, scored 10 runs total over the final four innings to turn what was a 2-1 deficit into a rout. “We started off making some mistakes and then we settled down,” Hemet coach Mike Arnold said. “We weren’t chasing pitches out of the zone and squared up some balls. In the mid to late innings we were able to pick it up.” The Titans (9-8, 4-2) gave them some help. Three Tahquitz pitchers combined to issue seven walks, hit a batter and throw three wild pitches, while the defense made a pair of errors. Isaiah Flores went 3 for 3, finished a home run shy of the cycle and scored four times to lead Hemet offensively. Leadoff hitter Chad Dotinga reached base in four of his five plate appearances, and Anthony Necochea went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI. “When they give you walks and they give you errors, you have to capitalize, and that’s what we did,” Flores said. Although the league season is not even half over, the Bulldogs (14-3, 6-0) appear to be on the fast track for the league title. They are two games up and have beaten the second place Titans twice and are outscoring league opponents by an average of 12 runs per game. “We just gotta keep that mindset of confidence and hopefully we can run away with (the league),” Flores said. Ben Moreno went 3 for 3 and Hayden Firth went 2 for 4 with two runs scored to lead Tahquitz. For us to get beat in this situation, I have utterly failed them,” Titans coach Ron Savage said. “I think I’ve got a great team, but for us to get beat in this manner, the only conclusion I can come up with is that I have failed to prepare them.”