Landon Hovermale shakes off rough start, leads Norco baseball team past Santiago

NORCO - Landon Hovermale’s chances of being on the mound at the conclusion of Monday’s game were not looking good.

In fact, making it through the first inning was looking a bit dicey for Norco’s senior left-handed pitcher.

Hovermale escaped that opening frame with minimal damage following a heads-up defensive play, and he closed out the evening with six scoreless innings as the Cougars slipped past Santiago 3-1 to remain unbeaten in Big VIII League play,

“He’s a bulldog,” Norco coach Gary Parcell said of the Grand Canyon-bound Hovermale. “He has a lot of pride in what he does.”

Hovermale failed to record an out on his first 19 pitches of the game. Santiago (15-8 overall, 7-3 in league) loaded the bases after a walk to Charlie Lemons and back-to-back singles by Striker Pence and Troy Randall. Josh Angulo drew a bases-loaded walk to give Santiago a 1-0 lead. And the bases still were loaded when Johnny Thorton stepped into the box with one out in the inning.

Thorton smacked a line drive to center field for an apparent sacrifice fly. The runners from second and third both tagged up, but the relay from Elijah Alvarez to Dylan Seward to Jordan Ayala nailed Randall at third base just before Pence crossed the plate.

“We think a big inning is there for us, and it unfolded in an instant,” Santiago Ty DeTrinidad said of the inning-ending double play. “When you play high-caliber teams like Norco, the window of opportunity is limited. You have to take advantage when it comes.”

Hovermale kept the window shut the rest of the way, allowing only two baserunners after the first inning. Hovermale’s pitch count stood at 28 after that opening frame, but he averaged only 10.7 pitches over his final six innings of work and finished up with 92.

“Nothing really changed physically for me (after the first inning). It was all the mental side,” said Hovermale, who improved to 8-0.

Hovermale tossed a three-hitter for his first complete game of the season. He walked three batters and registered six strikeouts. Monday evening marked Hovermale’s 28th career win, which Parcell believes is tied for the most in the program’s storied history.

Norco (19-2, 9-0) failed to record a hit in the first three innings against Pence, Santiago’s hard-throwing sophomore right-hander who entered the contest with a 4-0 record. The Cougars finally did some damage during the fourth inning. Zion Martinez opened the frame with a double down the right-field line, and Jacob Melendez hit a towering home run over the fence in right-center-field.

The hits by Martinez and Melendez came on 0-2 counts.

“I knew something hard was coming.” Melendez said about that 95-mile-per-hour fastball he launched for his fourth home run of the season. “I’m pretty familiar with our field, so I felt that I got enough. … The wind knocked it down a little it, but it still went out.”

Pence exited after throwing 79 pitches and allowing two runs on three hits in four innings. He walked two and struck out seven.

“He gave us a quality start,” DeTrinidad said. “He’s young and still learning, but he’s making things tough on opposing batters.”

Norco added an insurance run in the fifth inning, as Martinez smacked a double to the center-field fence to score Codey Brown.

The series continues Wednesday afternoon at Santiago and concludes Friday evening back at Norco.

“It’s going to come down to better execution. And we can’t let another big inning get away from us like tonight.,” DeTrinidad said.

It won’t get any easier for Santiago’s offense Wednesday, Norco is slated to throw Ayala, who has not allowed a run in 32 innings.

Prior to the game. Norco dedicated its new scoreboard in left-center field to Don Harris, who was the program’s first head coach. The baseball field is named for Harris, who won 309 games with the Cougars and also was Norco’s athletic director for five years.

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This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 1:42 AM.