Antelope Valley Restores Order to Its Lineup

A little reorganization can do wonders.

A case in point is the Antelope Valley High baseball team, which has won seven of its past nine games--including four of five in Golden League play--since Coach Mike Van Cheri shuffled his lineup three weeks ago.

With the Antelopes’ batting average hovering at .270, Van Cheri used his eraser as well as his pencil while filling out the lineup card for a showdown with Saugus.

The changes: Chad Eberhardt was moved from No. 2 to the leadoff position, David Cooke went from first to third, Jeff Bishop from third to seventh and Jeff Whiteford from eighth to second.

Jack Cox and Jade Freeman remained in the fourth and fifth positions.

The result: The Antelopes banged out 16 hits and a 13-12 victory over Saugus.

“Ever since that game, we’ve been on a roll,” Van Cheri said.

Heading into Tuesday’s game, the Antelopes had batted .364 (78 for 214) during the stretch and had raised their average to .310.

Some individual averages: Cooke .429 (27 for 63); Freeman .385 (20 for 52); Whiteford .381 (16 for 42); Eberhardt .304 (17 for 56).

Pitching: Hart senior left-hander Andrew Lorraine turned in perhaps the finest performance of his career last Friday, hurling a two-hitter with 15 strikeouts in a 5-0 Foothill League win over Burroughs.

Lorraine, who has committed to Stanford, made only 97 pitches and allowed just two singles. He began with four perfect innings before yielding an infield single to begin the fifth.

Josh Brown and Jason Mansfield, Birmingham’s righty-lefty starting rotation, have thrown 17 complete games between them. Brown (10-2), a senior, leads region players with 10 and Mansfield (3-3) has seven.

North Hollywood’s Erik Martinez has not allowed an earned run in his last 25 innings and has pitched back-to-back shutouts, a 1-0 win over San Pedro and a one-hit, 7-0, Valley Pac-8 Conference win over Monroe.