The High Schools : Newbury Park Braces to Face Simi Valley

Newbury Park enters today’s Marmonte League baseball game against first-place Simi Valley with an 11-1-3 record, an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2), and the distinction as one of the area’s surprise teams.

“I think we’ve opened a few eyes,” Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius said, “including mine. The kids believe in themselves, though.”

The Panthers, who are 2-0 in league play, can make believers of others if they knock off Simi Valley, which has won 10 in a row, including three league games. Newbury Park almost upset the Pioneers last season when it took a 5-0 lead into the seventh inning. But Simi Valley rallied for six runs to win, a key step in the Pioneers’ drive to their third consecutive league title under Coach Mike Scyphers.

“We were up, 5-0, and never did get an out,” Fabricius said. “I’m wondering if Scyphers is going to want those three outs back.”

Eight men out: Perhaps for Cleveland, eight is enough.

In a North Valley League game at Kennedy last week, the Cavaliers were forced to finish the game with eight players after senior Mario Valencia was ejected in the top of the sixth for arguing through the backstop screen with the home-plate umpire.

“He got into a verbal disagreement with the ump,” Cleveland assistant Marty Siegel said. “And by then, we’d already used everyone else.”

With the Cavaliers’ 15-man roster exhausted, Siegel elected to play with two outfielders.

Kennedy won the game, 11-1, but failed to score in the sixth. With nine Cleveland players on the field, Kennedy scored in every inning but the third.

Packing a punch: Notre Dame committed six errors in losing its first game of the season to St. John Bosco in the St. Paul tournament last week, but Coach Bob Mandeville could not fault the Knights’ offense.

With seniors Chris Lohman and Steve Martinez and junior Kevin Milligan leading the way, Notre Dame (12-1) scored 53 runs in five games last week.

After losing to St. John Bosco, 11-7, the Knights defeated Murphy (12-0), Loyola (13-2), Alemany (6-3) and Hawthorne (15-13).

Left fielder Lohman was 11 for 20 with a double, triple, three home runs and nine runs batted in during the tournament. First baseman Milligan was eight for 13 with a home run and eight RBIs. Second baseman Martinez was nine for 15 with a double, triple and home run.

“We’re hitting the ball exceptionally well right now,” Mandeville said. “I think the fact that we’ve got five seniors in the starting lineup has a lot to do with that. We’ve got some kids who expect to hit well and that feeling has rubbed off on the younger players.”

With Lohman (.500), Milligan (.486), Martinez (.405) and catcher Bobby Hughes (.455) all hitting better than .400, Notre Dame was batting .365 as a team and scored 119 runs through 12 games.

Add Notre Dame: Hughes began the season as one of the area’s most highly regarded catchers, but he has also proved to be a dependable pitcher.

Hughes (1-0) picked up a save and a win in relief last week and has two saves this season. He has struck out seven batters in four innings.

“He throws hard so you can only use him for an inning or two, but he can be overpowering when he’s on the mound,” Mandeville said. “He’s got a good fastball with good location and he has a decent off-speed pitch.”

Staff writers Tim Brown, Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.