The pro scouts were out in force Friday at Marchbank Park in Daly City, presumably to see St. Ignatius left-hander Matt Krook.
But they also got an eyeful of 6-foot-7 Serra right-hander Matt Gorgolinski in a 3-0 Serra victory.
The triumph kept Serra (18-3, 8-1) tied with St. Francis atop the West Catholic Athletic League standings heading into the Padres' home game Saturday at noon against Valley Christian.
The Loyola Marymount-bound Gorgolinski (6-1, 1.48) allowed four hits, striking out four and walking two.
Krook (2-1, 1.58) yielded five hits, struck out 11 and walked two.
Gathering behind the backstop were a few dozen scouts, pointing radar guns and scribbling notes.
Serra's Nick Toomey was impressed with Krook.
"He throws well," Toomey said. "He's one of the best pitchers in our league. He throws a hard 90-plus fastball with movement, has good off-speed stuff and the way he delivers the ball is very deceptive. But they made a few mistakes and we were able to play small ball and capitalize."
Serra got on the board in the third inning when John Murray reached first after a strikeout pitch made its way to the backstop. Toomey deftly sacrificed the runner and then, one out later, Mickey McDonald stroked his second consecutive single to make it 1-0.
The Padres made it 2-0 in the fourth after a one-out Christian Conci double to left field. Again Serra came up with the clutch hit, this time a two-out single to center field by John Murray.
Serra added an insurance run in the fifth on a single to right field by Michael Tinsley, a walk to McDonald and a two-out, bloop single to right by Conci.
On defense Serra was flawless, making no errors in support of Gorgolinski, who filled the strike zone with lasers and occasional off-speed pitches in front of all those professional eyes.
"I noticed the scouts, about 40 of them - jeez," Gorgolinski said. "I was able to get the ball in on their hitters and my fastball had some movement on it. And I also got them to swing through on some changeups and got my curve over in the second half of the game."
The key pitch of the game, Gorgolinksi said, was when he got Jack Stinn to swing and miss at a 3-1 fastball in the fourth with men on second and third and one out when the score was 2-0. Gorgolinski then struck out the Wildcat slugger and two batters later escaped the jam.
Jason Lock went 2-for-3 at the plate for St. Ignatius. McDonald and Conci both went 2-for-3 for Serra.
St. Ignatius (14-8, 3-6) is at Bellarmine at noon Saturday.
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John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com or followed on Twitter @PrepCat.
