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Sports

Sea Hawks Spotlight: Jake Jimenez and Dylan Hatch

The pair became the first sophomore duo in the RUHS history to hit back-to-back homeruns.

This program has a history. Redondo Union High has won 20 league championships in baseball and once churned out a record-setting streak of 22 consecutive playoff appearances; it has produced major league players, including former Houston Astros' third baseman Morgan Ensberg.

Until March 23, though, it had seen nothing like this before…

In a 10-7 victory over Torrance North High at Memorial Field, Jake Jimenez and Dylan Hatch became the first sophomores in school history to hit back-to-back home runs.

"I guess it was awesome because it was my first varsity home run," Jimenez said. "I've hit it close, but it never went over. That game, it just went over and as I'm walking over to the dugout, I hear 'ping' and look over to the right, and there goes Dylan. It was pretty cool."

Said Hatch: "It was amazing ... just the feeling of the crowd was good."

Through 15 games Jimenez is batting .300 (9 for 30) with 10 RBI while Hatch, after a brief demotion to the junior varsity, is hitting .341 (14 for 41) with 11 RBI.

Only senior Chris Jump has more RBI, with 12.

"Those two work hard and put in the time," Thurman said of Jimenez and Hatch, the Sea Hawks' sophomore catcher and first baseman. "Good things are going to happen to them."

The focus for Jimenez and Hatch is to see that good things happen for Redondo Union, which opens Bay League play on April 14 against Leuzinger at Memorial Field and is trying to rebound from disappointing losing seasons in three of the past four years.

"Goals we have — try to win more game. Try not to make so many errors, and try to keep our pitching up and our hitting will fall into place," Hatch said.

"We're going to go good this year," Jimenez added. "A lot better than last year. Not a lot of things were falling in place last year. One game our defense would be good but we wouldn't be hitting. One game our hitting would be good but we'd have no defense.

''I think this year we're jelling together. We have more team chemistry."

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