High School Baseball : Thousand Oaks Remains in the Hunt, 15-1

While Simi Valley has dominated opponents, Thousand Oaks has quietly kept within striking distance in the Marmonte League by squeaking out victories.

On Friday, however, the Lancers turned up the volume, putting together a Simi Valley-like offensive display in a 15-1 win over Camarillo at Thousand Oaks.

“We feel we have a shot at winning the league,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen said.

Steve Sisco led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run--his third leadoff homer this season--and the Lancers (12-6-1, 6-2 in league play) went on to score seven in the inning. The first eight batters reached base, including a two-run double by winning pitcher Dan Chergey.

“We hit the ball as hard as we’ve hit it all year and everything was in the gaps,” Hansen said.

Chergey (5-1) went the distance, scattering seven hits while striking out seven and walking one to register his second league victory in three days.

Sisco, Chergey, Blake Evans, David DeSoto and Darren Schoen each had two hits for the Lancers, who remain 1 1/2 games behind Simi Valley. Thousand Oaks visits Simi Valley on May 11 in the final league game.

St. Genevieve 6, Salesian 0--Mike Rohrbough threw a three-hit shutout for St. Genevieve in the Santa Fe League game, but he remains overshadowed. Despite striking out seven and not walking a batter, Rohrbough gets second billing even from his own coach.

“Mike’s not the best pitcher on our team,” Coach Kevin Kane said. “Roland De La Maza’s the best pitcher in the league. Mike’s a close second. Mike had one of his best games of the year. His fastball was working on the outside corner and he kept his split-finger fastball down low.”

Rohrbough (7-1) has struck out 42 batters in 46 innings. De La Maza has 74 strikeouts in 40 innings.

St. Genevieve scored all of its runs in the sixth inning when the first six batters had hits, including two doubles. Todd McMenamin had a three-run double to center, which gave the Valiants a 6-0 lead. Wenc Ramirez had three hits for St. Genevieve and Frank Aguirre had two.

St. Genevieve (14-2-1, 8-0-1) remains a half-game ahead of Chaminade in league play.

Hart 9, Burbank 6--The Indians remain the state’s only unbeaten team after clinching at least a tie for the Foothill League title at home.

Robby Davis drove in three runs and Ray Gardocki drove in two to pace Hart (21-0, 11-0).

Trailing, 9-1, in the seventh, Burbank tallied five runs. Jason Edwards came on in relief with the bases loaded and recorded a game-ending strikeout to pick up his third save.

Winning pitcher Chris Matkin (7-0) allowed nine hits and was charged with all six runs.

Alemany 5, St. Francis 2--Tom Daniels sparked a four-run sixth inning with a two-run single to lead the Indians to a Del Rey League victory. John Lite (3-0), normally a reliever, pitched a complete game in his second start of the season. Mark Scott had three hits for Alemany (14-8, 5-4).

Bosco Tech 12, Notre Dame 3--Five Notre Dame errors led to 12 unearned runs in the Del Rey League game at Notre Dame.

With the scored tied, 3-3, in the fifth, the Tigers parlayed five hits, two errors and two walks for eight runs.

Matt McElreath hit a two-run home run for Notre Dame.

Newbury Park 9, Royal 3--The Panthers scored five runs in the first inning en route to a Marmonte League victory at Royal. The Highlanders (9-13, 1-8) have lost 10 consecutive games.

Geoff Black was 3 for 4 with four RBIs for Newbury Park (11-10, 4-5). Wayne Cook was 2 for 3 with three runs scored and Dan Smith was 3 for 4 with a double and a home run.

Jason Jones had a double, home run and two RBIs for the Highlanders.

Oxnard 7, Rio Mesa 4--Juan Benavides’ two-run bases-loaded single in the fifth capped a four-run inning, helping the Yellowjackets to the Channel League win at Oxnard.

Rio Mesa (13-6-1, 6-2-1) fell into a tie for first in the league after leaving 10 runners on base.

Saugus 11, Palmdale 5--Tom Dodson, George Lopata and Jared Snyder each homered and doubled to power the visiting Centurions to the Golden League win.

Saugus (14-8, 8-4) also had five doubles in a 12-hit attack. Lopata was 3 for 3, scored 3 times and drove in 3 runs. Snyder had three hits and two RBIs.

Kennedy 10, Monroe 5--Craig Fleck was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs to lead Kennedy to the Mid-Valley League win at Monroe. Mike Schlesinger and V. P. Pajcin each had two hits for Kennedy (13-9, 7-3).

Jason Farrell (4-2) pitched four innings, striking out six, to get the win. Colin Hines pitched the final three innings to notch his third save. For Monroe (7-12, 3-7), Brian Eldridge tripled and singled, Tim Costi doubled and singled and Mike Bargerstock slugged a bases-loaded triple.

Hoover 6, Arcadia 5--Hoover won the Pacific League game in eight innings when senior Martin Barajas singled home Jose Robles. Hoover (9-8, 5-5) tied the score in the seventh when David Berkey--who was 3 for 4--hit a solo home run.

Burroughs 5, Alhambra 4--John Butler scored on a sixth-inning wild pitch by German Loisiaga, breaking a 4-4 tie and giving the Indians (11-8, 7-4) the Foothill League win at Burroughs.

After allowing four unearned runs in the first inning, Burroughs shut down the Moors (9-9, 6-5) behind the pitching of Ken Kusler and Brian Forth (6-1).

Bell-Jeff 8, Cathedral 2--Senior right-hander Alex Vucerevic tossed a three-hitter to lead Bell-Jeff (5-10, 5-5) to the Santa Fe League win.

Mike Cesta doubled, tripled and knocked in a run to pace Bell-Jeff’s 10-hit attack. Greg Isaacson (3 for 3, two RBIs), Tom Stanley (two hits, three steals) and Rod Arancibia (two hits) also had multiple-hit games for Bell-Jeff.

Oak Park 7, Santa Ynez 3--Scott Ziegler threw a complete game for Oak Park (7-6, 4-3) in the Tri-Valley League game at Santa Ynez. Oak Park’s John Daley was 3 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs and teammate Scott Veres was 3 for 4 with one RBI.

St. Bonaventure 7, Moorpark 4--Frank Fernandez was 4 for 4 for Moorpark (2-6 in the Tri-Valley League). Fernandez’s two-run triple tied the score, 4-4, in the top of the sixth, but St. Bonaventure scored three times in the bottom of the inning.

Calabasas 6, Nordhoff 2--Junior left-hander Dan Glassman struck out 10 in five innings to lead Calabasas to the Frontier League victory. Glassman (4-5) allowed four hits and one earned run.

Chris Inglehart was 2 for 2 with an RBI for Calabasas (7-9-2, 4-4-2).

Harvard 7, La Salle 5--Charles Patton and Marty Holly each drove in two runs, helping the Saracens (8-8-1, 5-4-1) to the Santa Fe League win at La Salle.

Oakwood 12, Queen of Angels 2--David Fond got the win for Oakwood (7-2, 4-0) in the Liberty League game at Valley Plaza park, allowing just one batter to reach base in the two innings he pitched. Oakwood sent 11 batters to the plate in the second inning when it scored six runs, including two on a single by Steve Sokoloff.

Bel-Air Prep 9, Buckley 1--Buckley (2-14, 0-5) managed just two hits in dropping the Delphic League game at Bel-Air Prep (17-3-1, 5-1). Singles by David Rosen and Tony Glickman accounted for the Buckley hits.

Grace Community 15, South Bay Lutheran 5--Chad Hankinson was 3 for 5 with five RBIs to lead Grace Community (11-6, 5-1) to the Westside League win at South Bay Lutheran. Jeff Fennell added two hits for Grace Community.