Baseball: Thousand Oaks living up to the hype

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So, which regional team is off to the most impressive start this season? Well, after hearing about its 3-2 victory in eight innings over Chancellor-slayers Hart on Thursday, Thousand Oaks is, so far, living up to all those lofty preseason expectations.

Despite having to endure another pitching gem by Cal State Fullerton-bound Mike Montgomery, who took a no-hitter and a 2-0 lead into the seventh, the Lancers rallied and relied on a sacrifice fly by Tom Hocutt (his dad actually played at Hart in the late 1970s) in the eighth to drive in the winning run. Now that’s some MacGyver-esque resiliency right there.

But these kinds of performances shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, the Lancers destroyed Grant and Cleveland in earlier Easton tournament games and plate pros Jett Bandy and Kyle Thomas are off to hot starts.

Still, we’ve got a long way to go until postseason and Saturday’s game against Quartz Hill will be another big test. The Rebels are off to a fine start and their victory over Crespi proves Travis McBride & Co. can hang with the big boys.

And here’s a little piece of late-1980s television nostalgia:

Does anyone know if this guy still hangs out at Kings’ games? He used to be a glass-side regular at The Forum.

-- Austin Knoblauch