Claremont Halts West’s 20-Game Win Streak, 8-7

For an inning Thursday, it appeared that Woodland Hills West would make short work of Claremont in the first round of the American Legion 6th Area baseball playoffs at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium.

But after he retired three batters in order and his team took a one-run lead in the first inning, West starter Pat Treend surrendered 16 hits--six for extra bases--as Claremont snapped West’s 20-game winning streak, 8-7.

The loss sends West (23-5) into a losers’-bracket elimination game today at 9 a.m. against Santa Monica. West, the defending 6th Area and World Series champion, must win its next three games in the double-elimination tournament to qualify for Sunday’s finals and must win five in a row to take its second consecutive 6th Area title.

Far from panicking, West players took the loss lightly. Coach Don Hornback said catcher Bobby Kim and first baseman Jason Cohen walked away after the final out agreeing that “it was a fun game.”

“This will be interesting to see if we can win five games this way,” Hornback said. “If we can win 20 in a row, why can’t we win five in a row?”

In fact, Hornback promised to buy lunch for his 15 players should they fail to advance to the finals.

With West trailing, 8-6, in the ninth, Cohen led off with a double and scored on a single by Kim to make the score 8-7. Bob Barcelona relieved starter Pat James (7-2) with none out and notched his second save.

“We thought we had them there in the ninth inning when we got a double and a single but we couldn’t push them across,” Hornback said. “We’ve always got that last run, but if you play enough baseball games eventually you’re going to lose. You’re not always going to get that last run.”

Claremont, the District 18 champion, will play Camarillo today at 4 p.m. Camarillo defeated Culver City, 17-8, Thursday night.

Claremont (37-9) hammered out five hits, including two doubles, and scored five runs to take a 3-1 lead in the second inning against Treend (4-3), who pitched eight innings before yielding to Sean Boldt.

“I told the guys that they (West) are not the defending World Series champs,” Claremont Coach Jack Helber said. “They’re just wearing the same uniforms because, obviously, they don’t have all of their players back.”

In a game that featured 29 hits, West pounded four singles to tie the score, 3-3, in the third but Claremont surged to a 5-3 advantage an inning later on Jeff Flaim’s two-run home run over the left-field fence.

Flaim’s shot, his 13th of the season, tied the team record set in 1981 by Mark McGwire, now of the Oakland A’s, and tied last year by Chris Romero.

Claremont collected hits in every inning but the first and ninth and had more than one hit in five innings.

“I don’t think they’re a real good defensive team,” Hornback said of Claremont, which committed four errors that led to four unearned runs. “But they’re a very good hitting team. That’s their M.O.”

West took advantage of two Claremont errors in the fifth to score a run, clipping the lead to 5-4. Center fielder Romero dropped Cohen’s fly, which should have been the first out of the inning, and Cohen took second on the play. Cohen, who finished one for five, advanced to third on the second of Kim’s four singles and scored when Greg Lederman hit into a double play.

“We played pretty sloppy behind (James),” Helber said. “You can’t win many games that way.”

West’s challenge did not go unmet, however.

With one out in the sixth Randy DuRoss doubled to center and scored on Steve Esquibel’s single to restore Claremont’s two-run margin, 6-4.

West tied the score again in the sixth on four hits.

With two on and one out, Del Marine sent a routine grounder to shortstop that hit the lip of the grass and sailed over Brian Lott’s head for a run-scoring single. Cohen followed with a fielder’s choice, scoring Jeff Marks.

Claremont, which entered the game with a .369 batting average, added runs in the seventh and eighth to take an 8-6 lead.