NOTEBOOK : Gordon, Lieberthal to Square Off in Bid to Settle Power Struggle

Joe Gordon of Simi Valley High and Westlake’s Mike Lieberthal will go head to head today in their quests for the Southern Section single-season home run record when Westlake visits Simi Valley in a Marmonte League game.

Gordon hit his 14th homer Wednesday, leaving him two shy of the record set by Arnold Garcia of Channel Islands in 1981. Lieberthal has been stuck at 13 since April 20.

Garcia was a left-handed pull hitter whose home runs over the right-field fence at Channel Islands would be met by a chorus of moos.

“There was an animal-husbandry class on the other side of the fence,” recalled Don Cardinal, the Channel Islands coach. “We’d say he was taking them deep into the cows.”

Because Channel Islands is also in the Marmonte League, Cardinal has watched firsthand the assault on Garcia’s record.

“Arnold was a lot like Gordon and Lieberthal,” he said. “Not a big kid, but he just had that stroke, and he worked real hard at his hitting.”

Although Gordon has hit more home runs recently, Lieberthal figures to have more games ahead of him.

Simi Valley (11-11, 4-6 in league play) finishes its league schedule Wednesday and is a long shot to make the playoffs. Westlake (23-1, 11-0) closes out league play today but is certain to be the top-seeded team in the 5-A Division playoffs.

Pitching rich: Few expected Saugus High to have strong pitching this season.

Gone was Roger Salkeld, picked third in last June’s amateur draft by the Seattle Mariners.

Left behind were sophomores Chris Hernandez and David Weeg, and junior Doug Maggiora, who logged all of six innings last season.

But a combined effort has carried the Centurions far. With a respectable team earned-run average of 3.49, Saugus (15-5-1 overall) is atop the Golden League standings with a 10-1 record and holds a three-game lead over second-place Palmdale.

The side-arming Maggiora, who routinely has entered games in the middle innings, has been most impressive. He has compiled an 8-1 record with four saves and a 2.59 ERA in 67 1/3 innings--most in the Valley area.

Hernandez (5-2, 4.20), a left-hander, and Weeg (2-0, 3.29), a right-hander, have held their own at the varsity level and show a lot of promise.

In the spotlight: New names have cropped up in the box scores of Poly’s games. A look at the batteries in recent Parrot outings reveals names such as Torres and Rocha notching wins and saves for Poly (20-3, 15-0)--names unseen two weeks ago.

But the fresh faces are producing. Raul Torres and Adolpho Rocha, both juniors, have been thrust into the limelight since mainstays David Giatti (broken ankle) and Rodrigo Dorame (tender arm) became unable to pitch.

Torres, especially, has been effective, notching a 4-1 record in six appearances. He is now Coach Jerry Cord’s No. 2 starter behind senior Eddie Castellanos (11-0).

“They’re still just getting their feet wet, really,” Cord said of the tandem. “I didn’t figure they’d throw much, except in relief. But they’re just tough kids. They want to compete.”

If it isn’t broken: Birmingham has won 12 consecutive games. Birmingham is a baseball team. Ergo, Birmingham is superstitious.

Following the grand baseball tradition of quirky, off-beat behavior that characterizes a team on a win streak, the Braves have decided to shun their white, home jerseys in favor of the blue road jerseys they wore during the Holt-Goodman tournament that launched the win streak. Even at home, the Braves wear road blue.

“It came time for us to wear our home jerseys again,” Coach Wayne Sink said, “and the guys said to me, ‘White jerseys? What white jerseys?’ ”

Staff writers Steve Henson, Vince Kowalick and Brian Murphy contributed to this notebook.