4-A Baseball Playoffs : Ocean View Coach Throws a Curve : Loara High Was Not Expecting Knackert’s Breaking Balls

Pitcher Brent Knackert and first baseman Jeff Sherwood made Ocean View High School baseball Coach Bill Gibbons look like a genius Tuesday.

Thanks largely to the efforts of Knackert and Sherwood, Ocean View defeated Loara, 4-1, in the second round of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs at Loara High School.

Gibbons said Monday that he would start either Knackert or hard-throwing right-hander David Holdridge, who has been the Seahawks’ ace for most of the season but who didn’t pitch in the first round.

He figured the Saxons would be preparing for Holdridge. He decided, instead, to pitch Knackert, a junior right-hander who throws almost all breaking balls.

Knackert, in only his second start of the season, responded with a two-hitter, striking out five and walking just one.

Despite Knackert’s outstanding performance, the score was tied, 1-1, with one out in the top of the seventh inning. Mike Abascal walked, and Loara Coach Ray Moore came out to talk to pitcher Mike Golia.

As Sherwood prepared to hit, Gibbons, the third-base coach, had a little meeting with his batter.

“He told me to look for one pitch and drive it outta here,” Sherwood said.

So what did Sherwood do? He slammed Golia’s first pitch, a fastball, well over the left-center-field fence for a two-run homer and a 3-1 lead.

The Seahawks (20-4-1) added another run on David Leonhardt’s sacrifice fly, and Knackert retired the Saxons with the help of a double play in the bottom of the seventh. Ocean View will play top-seeded Simi Valley in Friday’s quarterfinals.

“It was a calculated decision,” Gibbons said of his move to start Knackert, who has been a reliever most of the season. “It was a situation where we thought they’d be setting up for Holdridge, but I knew Knackert had the kind of stuff to beat them.”

With the exception of Golia’s home run that tied the score, 1-1, in the second inning, the Saxons (18-10-1) never got to Knackert. He recorded nine ground-ball outs, most of them slow rollers to the left side, was aided by two double plays and allowed no other runners past first base.

“Eight out of nine pitches are curveballs,” Knackert said. “I have better control with the curve. I can move it inside, outside, low, anywhere I want.”

It was one of his rare fastballs that Golia hit for a homer, which brought the Saxons back after Abascal had singled home Phil Chess in the top of the second for Ocean View.

“I thought we’d fake him out with a fastball, but I got it up and in and he hit it,” Knackert said.

That was about all Loara hit, though.

“You can’t win if you score one run in the CIF playoffs, I guarantee you,” Moore said. “A lot of teams have trouble with breaking-ball pitchers. We needed to drive the ball to the opposite field, but we didn’t. We hit a lot of weak ground balls.”

Knackert’s pitching and Sherwood’s home run overshadowed the Seahawks’ sloppy sixth inning, during which Jim Van Patton failed to move a runner to second with a bunt and then was picked off first with a 3-0 count on Mike Fyhrie.

“Let’s face it, that wasn’t a Phi Beta Kappa play,” Gibbons said.

Fortunately for Gibbons, it wasn’t indicative of the rest of his day.