Baseball: Thousand Oaks continues its second half surge
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About a month ago, I was trying to figure out how we got it so wrong on our early-season assessment of Thousand Oaks. I mean, as soon as we pushed the Lancers to the top of our Southland rankings, they got caught in a tailspin, and I had pretty much written off their chances as a serious Marmonte League title contender.
Of course, in the anything-can-happen Marmonte League, I should have realized the defending champions could rise again -- and they have.
Thanks to a four-home run barrage spearheaded by Jett Bandy and a superb pitching effort by USC-bound righty Chad Smith, Thousand Oaks cruised to an 8-1 victory over first-place Simi Valley on Wednesday afternoon.
Smith had an awesome performance considering the hit-happy team he was going up against. He struck out eight and allowed six hits in his first full-game performance of the season. His only gaffe resulted in a solo home run by Eric Bernstein in the first inning. Of course, with the way the wind was blowing in today’s hitter-friendly confines of Simi Valley HS, I think we can cut him a break.
Bandy hit two solo home runs, pinch hitter Ty Odle worked up the Lancer bench with a two-run bomb in the sixth and Tom Hocutt had a one-run homer as part of his three-for-four day at the plate.
What this means is Thousand Oaks has picked one heck of a time to win seven of its last eight. With last week’s triumphs over Crespi and Westlake, the Lancers have now beaten three teams I thought they’d lose to and they are now one game out of first place.
They still have to play perfect ball over the last four league games and hope the Pioneers have a uncharacteristic stumble if they want to win the league title. But at least they know they can swing and throw with the big boys.
And so do I.
Here’s what Thousand Oaks Coach Frank Mutz had to say after the game:
