Thousand Oaks Runs Out of Rallies : High school baseball: West Covina hits four homers to outscore the Lancers, 17-10.

The Thousand Oaks High defense played decently enough for a change. But there is no defense for a ball sailing high over a fence, a fact not lost on West Covina in a Southern Section 5-A Division baseball quarterfinal Friday.

The Bulldogs blasted four home runs en route to a 17-10 victory at Thousand Oaks. Mike Pineiro hit two--including a grand slam--and Noel Magpoc and David Lawson each hit one to give West Covina 48 homers this season, just three shy of the Southern Section record of 51 shared by Glendora (1985) and St. Bernard (1988).

“This is the way we’ve been playing all year,” said West Covina Coach Jeff Platt, whose team averages 10.8 runs a game. “We give up runs, but we hit the long ball.”

When the Bulldogs weren’t hitting it out, they were hitting it in the gaps, totaling 17 hits against five pitchers. That the Lancers made only one error--their 71st of the season--was rendered insignificant.

Even a four-run, seventh-inning Thousand Oaks rally that included Brent Christenson’s second home run of the game was too little, too late.

The Lancers made a miraculous seventh-inning comeback from a 10-1 deficit Tuesday against Rolling Hills, but this time they trailed, 17-6, heading into their last at-bat.

“I can’t fault our ballclub. We scored 32 runs in three playoff games and kept coming back until our last out,” said Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen, whose team was third in the Marmonte League with a 6-6 record.

After Thousand Oaks (11-9) took a 3-1 first-inning lead on a bases-loaded double by Mike McNellis, Pineiro hit a three-run home run to cap a four-run second inning and give the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead they would not relinquish.

West Covina (20-6) added two runs in the third and Magpoc’s leadoff home run in the sixth triggered a six-run outburst that gave the Bulldogs a 13-3 lead.

A sore arm caused Thousand Oaks starter Scott Barkman, who posted playoff victories over Culver City and Rolling Hills, to leave after two innings, and neither Nick Brown nor Tony Siegel could get through the fourth.

Jeff Naster, a junior right-hander, finally ended the fourth and he retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth.

Meanwhile, Thousand Oaks, which had 14 hits, left four runners on base in the third and fourth innings. A solo home run by Christenson and a two-run blast by McNellis in the fifth closed the gap to 13-6.

Pineiro, however, unloaded his grand slam against Naster in the seventh to give West Covina an 11-run lead. The home run followed an intentional walk to Charles Poe, who leads the Bulldogs with 13 home runs and 41 runs batted in.

“It’s nice when a guy like Pineiro can do that,” Platt said. “We’ve got a lot of guys with power.”

All of which benefited Dan Hernandez, a sophomore pitcher short on velocity and long on stamina. Hernandez improved to 8-1 despite carrying an earned-run average of 5.56. He threw 135 pitches against Thousand Oaks, lasting 6 2/3 innings before giving way to Pineiro.

Christenson, a senior center fielder, was three for three and had 10 RBIs in the playoffs. He finished the season with six home runs, a .444 batting average and only two strikeouts.

“Brent began the season as our most improved player and finished as our most valuable player,” Hansen said. “He is a tremendous hitter in the clutch.”

McNellis had three hits and five RBIs for the Lancers. Ryan Kritscher, Bill Hall and Lance Martin each had two hits.

Although Poe--who came in batting .521--was held hitless, seven Bulldogs had at least two hits.