Narbonne’s Lepe makes up for more than lost time

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Narbonne Head Coach Bill Dillon doesn’t hold back when discussing his team playing most of the baseball season without one of its star players because of academic ineligibility.

‘It was kind of frustrating to have a senior you’re expecting to be a three-year starter really just fall apart and really just become careless,’ Dillon said of catcher David Lepe, who was last year’s co-MVP of the Marine League for the two-time defending league champion Gauchos.

Lepe started making amends in the fourth inning of Thursday’s home game against Carson, hitting a score-tying solo home run in his first at-bat of the season to help Narbonne (17-5, 7-1) claim a 6-4 victory and keep pace with league co-leader Wilmington Banning.

‘He really let us down by not being eligible, but it’s nice to have him back,’ said Dillon, who credits utility players Matt Durbin and Ramiro Escalera, both seniors with no previous varsity catching experience, with helping to keep the team afloat by filling in at the position Lepe filled the previous two seasons.

Lepe hit .388 with five triples, 19 RBIs and 22 runs last season. He is expected to get his first start of the year at Chatsworth on Saturday.

‘We were a pretty strong team prior to this, but we’re probably going to be hitting on all cylinders now,’ Dillon said. ‘The best is yet to come for our season.’

-- Chuck Schilken

-- Image from www.narbonnehigh.org