High School Baseball : Carlsbad Discovers Offense, Scores 16

Before Wednesday’s 16-3 victory over Oceanside, the Carlsbad High School baseball team hadn’t made anyone forget the ’27 Yankees. The Lancers’ run production was more along the lines of the ’87 Padres.

Pitching kept them in games--Carlsbad’s four losses have been by a total of five runs--but the offense didn’t score to help out.

That wasn’t the case in Wednesday’s Avocado League opener at Oceanside High. Starter Scott Karl (3-1), who struck out 15 and allowed only two earned runs in seven innings, even said he became bored watching his teammates trot around the bases.

Center fielder Robert Wurster must have been the most boring. He hit a two-run home run, his first of the year, and drove in a run with a triple in his next at-bat. He also scored on a walk in the nine-run sixth inning, when every Lancer except Reed Pippen scored; Bryan Wilson scored twice.

Wurster, a three-year starter, said he was relieved. Like most of Carlsbad’s hitters, Wurster has been in a season-long slump.

“I’ve been hitting the ball well. It’s just been right at someone every time,” Wurster said. “Our offense isn’t known yet, but we’ve got a lot of good hitters. It’s just that we’re known for our pitching.”

First baseman Jeff Meyers is the only guy who had been hitting well for Carlsbad (7-4, 1-0), and he continued against Oceanside (5-6, 0-1), hitting two doubles and scoring twice. He also just missed hitting a home run, twice backing the center fielder up to the fence.

It helped that Carlsbad was facing Mike Norris (0-1), Oceanside’s No. 3 pitcher, and then three guys who don’t usually pitch. No. 1 starter Mike Luna was all set to start until his sister shut his pitching hand in the trunk of a car, Oceanside Coach Dave Barrett said.

Even Karl, a junior left-hander, had a double for Carlsbad, which had 13 hits. But he was most impressive pitching, giving up just one hit in the first four innings and striking out the side twice. In the fifth, he struck out the last two batters to leave the bases loaded.