Doyle Heeds Coach’s Ultimatum as Thousand Oaks Tops Newbury Park

With two out in the seventh inning, runners on first and second and his team leading Newbury Park High, 3-0, Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen walked to the mound and gave starting pitcher Tim Doyle an ultimatum.

“I said to him, ‘If this guy gets on base, you’re out of here,’ ” Hansen said. Hansen returned to the dugout and Doyle dug his foot into the mound.

Two pitches later, Doyle retired Dan Smith on a popup to catcher Joe Sturges in foul territory, giving last-place Thousand Oaks (4-9, 1-4 in league) its first Marmonte League win of the season. The win Friday at Thousand Oaks also knocked Newbury Park (5-8, 2-2) out of a four-way tie for second.

Doyle (1-3) pitched his best game of the season, yielding only two hits while striking out five, but when the 17-year-old senior gave up successive walks to pinch-hitters Dave Angulo and Bryan Pearson, Hansen started pacing the dugout.

“I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s going to happen again,’ ” Hansen said. “I don’t like to use the word snakebitten, but we’ve had some horrendously bad luck this season.”

The Lancers have lost six games by a total of nine runs, including three one-run decisions. And the team has blown several ballgames, said Hansen, who had become so pessimistic that before the game he privately hoped the dark clouds overhead would bring rain and a postponement.

“It might have helped us to have a break,” said Hansen, whose spirits brightened after he stuck with Doyle.

“He just told me to pitch like I had been,” Doyle said.

Doyle walked six batters, but was able to stay out of trouble by throwing the right pitches at the right time. One of those pitches was a 2-2 fastball past Newbury Park’s Wally Thornhill with a runner on first in the sixth inning.

Thornhill, who is batting .469, hit three home runs Wednesday against Camarillo, giving him five for the season. But Doyle was undaunted.

“I looked in the paper and saw the three home runs and I was a little concerned,” Doyle said. “But out here it just looked like he was a little twerp and I could throw the ball by him.”

Doyle’s teammates gave him all the runs he needed in the third inning. Newbury Park pitcher Jeff Berman walked Kris Kaelin with the bases loaded to force in one run. Chris Bates followed with a single to left, scoring Mark Skeels for a 2-0 lead. Thornhill, however, halted the rally by throwing out Steve Sisco trying to score from second.

In the fifth inning, after singles by Kaelin, Bates and designated-hitter Tom Brozowski, Jason Cunningham dragged a bunt past Berman to score Kaelin. Berman (2-2) had six strikeouts but allowed nine hits.

Newbury Park’s only two hits were a second-inning infield single by Scott Corlew and a sixth-inning single by designated-hitter Tim Bohling.

“He kept grounding us out and popping us up,” Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius said of Doyle.