Lancers refuse to let season slip away
Baseball team tries to rebound from a rough stretch
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

Rarely does a high school baseball team as talented as Thousand Oaks face a mustwin situation before the midway point of league play arrives.

But that was exactly the case last Friday afternoon at TOHS as the Lancers, losers of eight of 10 games entering the contest, took on Royal.

With his team in a tailspin, Thousand Oaks senior pitcher Jeff Johnson out-dueled Royal fireballer Matt Magill, throwing a complete game shutout while allowing one hit and striking out a season-high 10 Highlander batters.

Johnson also had the gamewinning RBI as the Lancers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break open the scoreless pitching duel en route to a 3-0 victory.

"We had to win because it's been a real struggle for us lately," said Johnson, who lowered his ERA to 2.33. "This was a big victory for the team."

The Lancers entered Wednesday's contest at Newbury Park with a 9-8 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the Marmonte League. A year ago, as they marched toward the league title, TOHS lost only two league games.

Thousand Oaks head coach Frank Mutz said Friday's victory was a step in the right direction for his ballclub but, he added, there's still plenty of work to do if the Lancers want to dig themselves out of their early-season hole and qualify for the postseason.

Only four teams from the Marmonte League make the CIFSouthern Section Division I playoffs, and TOHS entered the week tied with Calabasas and Moorpark for fifth place.

"We've got to win every game, but especially when we play at home," Mutz said. "The margin for error is very slim."

Early in the year, everything seemed to be clicking for T.O.

The Lancers began the season 60 and were ranked third in Division I. A March 14 loss to Westlake, however, altered the team's positive momentum, and for the next three weeks the Lancers struggled at the plate and on the mound.

"All of a sudden, everything got tougher, especially the schedule," Mutz said. "In the beginning we weren't playing as tough of teams. Now we are."

Thousand Oaks entered the week with a .301 team batting average, which, by high school standards, isn't too spectacular. Westlake, for example, was batting a collective .357.

Senior catcher Jett Bandy, T.O.'s second-leading hitter with a .349 average, said the Lancers held a meeting before the Royal game. The message, he said, was simple: It's time to play with passion.

"We weren't feeling that fire, and as a team we needed to get it back," Bandy said. "Hopefully this win (over Royal) does that for us."

According to Bandy, Johnson and Mutz, the Lancers must start doing the little things better on a game-by-game basis.

Thus far, TOHS has struggled to advance runners and manufacture runs- the Lancers averaged 2.6 runs per game in their first eight losses.

Whereas last year's 25-win squad could often wait for a threerun home run to bail them out of tough situations, this year's group doesn't possess the same type of thunder in its lineup.

From here on out, execution at the plate and big-time efforts on the mound could be the difference between making the playoffs or falling short of that vital goal, Johnson said.

"We're not used to losing," Johnson said. "We just have to remain focused and keep improving. This thing is a long way from being over."