Thousand Oaks Lancer baseball wins quarters, semis in CIF

MICHAEL COONS/T.O.A. CELEBRATING VICTORY--Thousand Oaks's Tyler Rinaldi, left, congratulates teammate Kyle Ayers after beating Arroyo Grande, 5-3, in the CIF-SS quarterfinals on Friday.

The Thousand Oaks baseball team defeated Arroyo Grande, 5-3, in a CIF-Southern Section Division II quarterfinals playoff game at Thousand Oaks High School Friday afternoon. The win set up a semifinal match up between the Lancers and Valencia Tuesday in Valencia that the Lancers won, 6-2.

In the Arroyo Grande game, T.O. battled back from a 3-1 deficit, scoring one run in the bottom of the fourth inning and three more to go ahead to stay in the bottom of the fifth as Kyle Ayers, a senior, pitched three scoreless innings in relief of senior Bret Montgomery.

The Lancers had gone ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning after senior right fielder Brad Peters singled and eventually came around to score after a pair of Arroyo Grande errors. But after three shutout innings, the Eagles got to Montgomery in the top of the fourth.

Dustin Richards, a senior third baseman, and Erik Morrison, a junior shortstop, singled and Kory Langwell, a senior center fielder, hit a sacrifice fly to score Richards. After a walk, Brandon King, a junior designated hitter, also drove home a run with a sacrifice fly giving Arroyo Grande the lead, 2-1.

MICHAEL COONS/T.O.A. IN A PICKLE--Erik Morrison of Arroyo Grande chases Chad Lundahl of Thousand Oaks in a rundown to first base during Friday's CIF-SS quarterfinals at Thousand Oaks.

A two-out double to right-center field by Jimmy Chambers, a senior right fielder, drove home another Eagle run and the score was 3-1.

But the Lancers fought back quickly as senior shortstop Chad Lundahl led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to cut the lead to one, 3-2.

Peters and T.O. head coach Rod Stillwell said that home run returned the momentum back towards Thousand Oaks.

"They (Arroyo Grande) jumped out ahead of us," Stillwell said. "And then Chad (Lundahl) hit that ball a long way and got us going. That was exciting. It put some energy back in our guys. I don’t think we thought we were defeated by any means, but that certainly didn’t hurt."

Lundahl’s homer carried far over the left field fence down the left field line.

"I think the big momentum-turner was when (Chad) Lundahl hit that home run," said Peters. "We were able to build off of that. We thought we were right back in it and we weren’t going down without a fight. We came battling back."

Lundahl, a four-year starter for the Lancers, knew it was a big at-bat to lead off the bottom of the fourth after Arroyo Grande had gone ahead, 3-1.

"They’d just put up a three-spot (three runs) and I was leading off the inning," Lundahl said. "I wanted to get something started to get my team back in the game. So I tried to find a pitch somewhere over the plate to see if I could get us started."

With the score now 3-2 in favor of Arroyo Grande, Ayers shut down the Eagles in the top of the fifth and the Lancers rallied for three decisive runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Mike Flickinger, a senior catcher, was hit by a pitch to start the inning for the Lancers and after a wild pitch, Eric Guillen, a sophomore left fielder, sacrifice bunted the runner (Adam Woyansky, a senior, had run for Flickinger) to third base with one out.

Arroyo Grande starting pitcher Billy Vinnedge, a senior, made what appeared to be a game-saving diving catch of a pop up in front of home plate for the second out, but Jason Bizar, a senior second baseman smacked an RBI single past third base to tie the score 3-3.

After an intentional walk to Lundahl, putting runners on first and second with two outs, Arroyo Grande went its ace, Jason Looney, a senior. But Brian Bird, a junior first baseman, singled home the go-ahead run and Peters doubled home an insurance run.

"Brian Bird came through with a big hit again today," Stillwell said. "We’ve had some dominant pitching and on offense it’s not just been one guy. Everybody is contributing."

Ayers threw two more shutout innings to secure the win.

"I was pretty nervous about coming in and facing a no. 4 team," Ayers said about fourth-seeded Arroyo Grande. "But after the first inning all of that fear went right out the window."

One of the Lancers objectives from the beginning of the season was to go deep into the playoffs.

"We’re one step closer to our goal," Stillwell said. "That’s what we’ve been working towards since September. We’ve got 10 seniors, so they’ve been thinking about this for a long time."

Said Ayers, "I can’t remember the last time a team from Thousand Oaks High School has gone this far. This was a great team effort. It was awesome."

With the win over Valencia, Saturday, the Lancers (24-6), No. 2 Marmonte League, will play the Canyon High Centurions of Anaheim (23-5), No. 1, Century League, at 4:30 p.m. at Edison International Field in Anaheim.

This game is for the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division II Championship.

"I am excited," said head coach Rod Stillwell moments after the Lancers had defeated the host Valencia High Vikings (23-7), No. 1, Foothill League at Curtis Sand & Gravel Stadium.

The Centurions advanced to the championship game by blanking the host Villa Park High Spartans, No. 3, Century League, 5-0, on Tuesday.

In the Lancers win over the Vikings, senior right fielder Brad Peters powered a pair of singles and a towering two-run homer over the center field fence–370 feet from home plate–in the sixth inning.

Regarding the pitch, Peters said, "That was just a fast ball. He (Garrett Rieck) threw it to me before and I fouled it off and I didn’t want to make the same mistake again."

Stillwell said that Peters has been coming up big for Thousand Oaks all year.

"He’s a very strong kid and he’ll get the base hit when you need it and he’ll go the other way when you need it," the coach said. "He went to right-center field deep."

The Lancers, down 1-0 in the third inning, got three runs–with one out–as catcher Mike Flickinger walked, Eric Guillen doubled to right field, designated hitter Jeremy Megordon hit a two-RBI double to left and second baseman Jason Bizar added another run on a double to right.

Megorden said that "everybody works together and comes through in the key situations. Pitching, hitting and defense come together at the same time. That’s basically what it comes down to."

Stillwell said that "it’s nice to fly underneath the radar and then all of a sudden end up there at the end. It’s been a lot of fun.

"People talk about polls and talk about rankings and the only rankings that I really care about–and I’ve tried to tell the team we care about–is at the end of the year.

"We’re in the position that we wanted to be in at the end of the year, and we have one more game to go."

Senior Kyle Ayers was the starting pitcher and was relieved with two outs in the third inning by senior Bret Montgomery (10-2), a starter throughout the regular year.

Stillwell, in his second year as the Lancers head coach after a 10-14 record last year, said he had no qualms about using Montgomery in relief.

"He did a great job. He’s a big, quiet kid, but he’s awfully competitive. I know Monty is going to give us everything he’s got."

Ayers and Montgomery were able to keep Valencia sluggers including junior pitcher Matt Aidem at bay most of the game.

"I’d like to attribute that to our pitching, but sometimes people have bad days. Aidem got his two hits, (but) we were able to keep him from hurting us too much.

"He came up with the bases loaded (in the third inning) and Montgomery got him (to fly out to center field) on the first pitch.

Peters echoed Stillwell’s comments about Montgomery. "He just came in there when we were down and shoved it to ‘em," he said. "He just absolutely stuck it to ‘em."

Montgomery, who allowed two hits and no runs, said he was told he’d be the first to relieve if he was needed. "I was thinking I wasn’t going to be needed because Ayers goes out there all the time and he shuts them down," he said. "But I was ready if they needed me."

Ayers, who allowed four hits and two runs, said that while Tuesday’s game was not the performance he had hoped for, he appreciated that Montgomery was ready to take over.

"I’ve noticed that anytime that I’m not on (my game), Bret’s on and vice-versa–anytime he’s not on, I’m on," he said.

As Saturday approaches, Montgomery said the key to winning will be seeing the championship game as any other played this season by Thousand Oaks.

"We’ve done the basic things, taking every single game like a regular game and it feels great," he said. And whether he or Ayers will start he said, "I’m not sure. Either way we’ll do well."

Ayers said he’d also be ready to take the mound.

"Coming down to the end, we’re both going to be ready on Saturday. The two tall guys. It works out."

As for starting, he said, "It won’t matter either way. We don’t take anything personally against each other. Anything he does is great. I’m all there for him and he’s the same way."

As for the position players, those whose job it will be to get the hits, Megorden said. Regarding playing at a Major League park, "Just hit line drives. We’re not going to be able to hit it out there, just (go for) extra base hits."