T.O. Lancers outlast Newbury Park in baseball
By Steve Ames
Special to The Acorn

The Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park High baseball teams have four weeks, six Marmonte League and several non-league games to play before they meet again on the baseball diamond at Thousand Oaks on April 30.

Meanwhile, the cross-town rivals will collect themselves—the Lancers preparing to defend their California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division II championship and the Panthers just trying to improve.

Thousand Oaks (8-2 overall, 3-1 league) won the first meeting between the schools, 9-7, at Newbury Park last Friday. The Panthers fell to 2-7 and 0-4 in the league.

"I told our guys before the game (that) no matter what their record is, it doesn’t matter," said Lancer head coach Rod Stillwell. "The game’s always a battle.

"Our approach at the plate wasn’t very good the first few innings," the coach said. "We expect to take better swings with 2-0, 3-1 counts than we did, especially if you have runners in scoring position. But we seem to turn things around a little late in the game."

Thousand Oaks hosts the Calabasas Coyotes tomorrow at 3 p.m. Monday, the Lancers will be visited by the Camarillo Scorpions of the Pacific View League for a 3:15 p.m. game, then on Wednesday they will host the Royal Highlanders at 3 p.m. On April 13, Thousand Oaks begins play in the San Luis Obispo Easter Tournament.

Newbury Park’s opponent at home tomorrow is the Moorpark Musketeers at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Newbury Park will visit Simi Valley for a 3 p.m. game, then on April 10 the Panthers will host the San Marcos/Santa Barbara Royals of the Channel League in a double-header with games at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

"We’re getting better," said Panther Head coach Scott Drootin. "We’re very young. We have a lot of guys out there who haven’t played those positions before. The difference is we’ve got to play defense. We have to play catch. If we played catch, we could have won about five games.

"I’m not going to give up on these guys," Drootin explained. "We just have to keep them working harder and harder and harder and, as a coach, I have to work harder. There were a lot of encouraging things (versus Thousand Oaks). Our pitcher did a great job. He just went out and battled. If we make easy plays, we win."

The Lancers’ 11-hit offense was led by senior pitcher Brian Bird, who went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI; junior third baseman Eric Guillen, who was 2-for-4 with a double; junior second baseman David Iden, who went 2-for-5, and sophomore center fielder Ian Brown who hit a two-run homer.

"Brian Bird is starting to swing the bat well," Stillwell said. "Eric Guillen is swinging it well for us. We had a big home run from Ian Brown and he actually hurt his shoulder, so after the home run we had to take him out of the game."

The Panthers’ 11-hit offense was led by senior center fielder Jon Alia, who had a 2-for-3 day at the plate including a triple; senior right fielder Chase Dunning, who also hit a triple; and junior shortstop Alii Keohohou, sophomore first baseman Cody Fierro and senior third baseman Chuckie Fick, all of whom went 2-for-4.

"Offensively we hit and ran, we bunted," Drootin said. "We did whatever we needed to do. I think we’re showing some signs of maturity but, again, I don’t want to make any excuses but we have a lot of new guys out there and they’re getting better and better. We made an adjustment offensively and I thought we did a nice job."

With the score knotted 7-7 and two outs in the Thousand Oaks seventh inning, Guillen and sophomore left-fielder Jeff Briones singled. Iden reached base on an error and Bird singled in two runs as the Lancers went ahead 9-7 to stay.

"They did some things that helped us, but we capitalized after that (seventh inning Newbury Park error)," Stillwell said. "We’re just finding out that we have that kind of character and that kind of heart. It’s good to see from a young club."

Sophomore Marcus Whitmore, who recently was called up from the junior varsity, came in at the beginning of the fourth inning to relieve Joey Gerig, who started and got the win for the Lancers. "(Whitmore) had a great year on the freshman team last year and we’re in need of arms because of injuries," Stillwell said. "He’s come up and pitched very well.

Junior Travis Scott pitched a complete game and took the loss for Newbury Park.

"He’s a warrior," Drootin said. "He’s tough. Try to take the ball out of his hands when the game’s on the line, no soap. He wanted to be there. It was his game to win or lose."

Drootin said eventually his Panthers will come through offensively and start winning games. "Once we go, we’re going to go," he said. "I can’t get frustrated right now because they’re giving me everything they’ve got. Our kids battled. They just didn’t make the plays. I like these guys and we just have to keep them working and not giving up."