Camarillo Closing In on the Lead : Scorpions Win Fourth Straight, 10-5, Over Thousand Oaks

Camarillo’s baseball team has come a long way since its Marmonte League opener against Simi Valley.

In that game, the Scorpions committed eight errors and suffered an embarrassing 12-run defeat to the Pioneers. Camarillo then lost its next league encounter to Newbury Park and was 0-2 in the league.

But Wednesday afternoon on their home field, the Scorpions pulled within a half-game of Simi in the title race, smashing Thousand Oaks, 10-5, behind the middle-to-late pitching of Charlie Fiacco and the hitting of Scott Cline and Hugh Heath.

“I was concerned,” Camarillo Coach Ken Wagner said about the team’s league start. “I wasn’t sure at that point if we were a good ballclub or not.

“But we’ve worked on things, and now everybody is playing better defense. And the kids are hitting the ball well. We’re playing with confidence.”

Fiacco (3-0) gave up three hits and three runs in the top of the first. But their was no need for the Camarillo ace to worry, not the way teammate Cline has been hitting.

Cline, who will play at UCLA next year, hit his eighth home run--a two-run blast that cut the lead to 3-2--in the bottom of the first.

Cline, the Scorpions’ leading hitter at .491, also had an RBI single in the second inning.

Fiacco, also headed for UCLA, worked 6 innings and allowed nine hits and five runs. Joe Salomon recorded the last two outs for the Scorpions.

Camarillo sent 10 men to the plate in the second and scored five times to chase starter Anthony Mohr, the game’s losing pitcher.

Heath, who was 3 for 3, had two hits in the second inning and a run batted in.

Camarillo (4-2, 12-7) pounded three Thousand Oaks’ pitchers for 11 hits. Thousand Oaks fell to 3-3 in league, 9-10 overall.

Simi Valley, after winning its first 18 games, lost for the third time in four outings Wednesday, dropping a 6-2 decision to Newbury Park. The Pioneers are 5-2 in league. Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Newbury Park and Royal are 3-3.