Southern Section Baseball Playoffs : Ocean View Reinstates Three Players Before Its Opening-Round Game

Ocean View High School’s baseball team will have a new look when the Seahawks play host to Thousand Oaks at 3:15 today in the opening round of the Southern Section 5-A division playoffs in Huntington Beach.

Right-handed pitcher Dan Naulty, shortstop Todd Bailey and reserve outfielder Brett Reed were reinstated to the team on Thursday by John Myers, Ocean View principal. The three had served a 45-day suspension for violating team rules while participating in an Easter tournament in San Luis Obispo.

“I was going to have the players make the decision whether they wanted them back on the team, but I had no choice over the matter,” said Bill Gibbons, Ocean View coach. “It’s clearly written in our athletic code that a suspended player is eligible to be reinstated following a 45-day suspension.

“Theoretically, the players have served a 52-day suspension because I sent them home the first day of the tournament, but the Easter week didn’t count as part of the 45 days. The other players have been very positive about the reinstatement. We go from an average team to an above-average team.”

Naulty and Bailey were starting players who missed 3 games in San Luis Obispo and 12 Sunset League games during the suspension.

Naulty is a key addition. The senior had a 5-0 record with three complete games at the time of his suspension. He was 7-2 as a junior with 75 strikeouts, pitched a no-hitter against Channel Islands in the playoffs last year and was named the most valuable player of the L.A. Games during the summer.

In Naulty’s absence, Gibbons said his staff’s earned-run average was 5.00, and that included three consecutive games in which Ocean View shut out opponents during league play.

“There were times when I went out to the mound that I felt I was trying to put out a fire with a flame thrower,” he said. “Nobody has pitched consistently for us. Those three shutouts were equal to (Joe) DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak.”

Gibbons said Naulty has been working out daily at Golden West College, but he would not confirm whether he would start today against Thousand Oaks (17-7-1).

“He could pitch, but I’m not tipping my hand at this time,” Gibbons said. “He hasn’t worked out with us in six weeks, but I not going to say he won’t pitch, either.”

Ocean View (14-10-1) is matched against a very good hitting team. Every player in Thousand Oaks’ starting lineup is batting .300 or better with at least 1 home run. Catcher Mark Skeels (.456, 5 homers) and leadoff batter Steve Sisco (.368, 8 homers) are the team’s top players. Right-hander Dan Chergey (5-2) will be the starting pitcher.

Valencia shortstop Mike Edwards is approaching two county records as the Tigers open play in the 4-A division by playing host to Northview in the opening round in Placentia.

Edwards, who led the county with a .570 batting average, has 45 hits this season. Robbie Katzaroff, now playing at UCLA, holds the county mark of 51 hits, established in 1985 at Los Alamitos.

Edwards also has 110 career hits, 6 behind county record-holder Jeff Osborne of La Quinta. Osborne, now playing at Stanford, had 116 hits from 1986-88.

Laguna Hills pitcher Mike Smedes, who signed a national letter of intent with USC earlier this week, leads the Hawks into the first round of the 3-A division playoffs. Smedes (7-2) will be the starting pitcher against visiting Artesia (18-8).

Smedes showed he’s also formidable at the plate last week, hitting three homers in one game against Laguna Beach. He’s batting .411 with 5 homers and 27 RBIs. Laguna Hills has won 13 consecutive games after beginning the season with a 3-8 record.