Vasey’s Surge Mirrors Progress of Simi Valley : Baseball: Versatile senior right-hander leads the improved Pioneers past two key Marmonte League rivals.

Simi Valley High entered the baseball season with more questions than a game-show host. The Pioneers were coming off a 13-12 season and Coach Mike Scyphers was considering a lineup that included two sophomores and a freshman.

But Simi Valley is 15-2 and, with a 6-0 start and two-game lead, is threatening to run away with its seventh Marmonte League title in the past nine seasons.

Although nearly every Pioneer has come up with a timely hit, strong pitching performance or key defensive play, none has made more of an impact than Brian Vasey. The senior shortstop-pitcher who transferred from Carlsbad High in San Diego before last season is hitting .490 (25 for 51) and has a 6-0 record with an earned-run average of 0.75.

“I would have never thought he would have the kind of numbers he has at this time,” Scyphers said. “I knew he was capable of putting the ball in play and possibly having a good batting average, but not having 25 hits already.”

Vasey, who batted .345 last season, has almost matched last year’s total of 29 hits. Yet his 6-0 record is most surprising; he was 1-3 last year with a 1.69 ERA.

And he probably isn’t even the most talented player on the team. That would be senior third baseman-second baseman Tyler Nelson, who will attend Cal State Northridge on a scholarship in the fall.

Other than a scholarship offer from Cal Lutheran, an NAIA school, Vasey (6 foot, 170 pounds) has not attracted much interest from college recruiters. Vasey, who as a sophomore started at shortstop for a Carlsbad team that finished 26-7 and won the San Diego Section 2-A Division title, might be hindered because he is new to the area.

“He’s kind of unknown,” Scyphers said. “But there definitely are some schools around here who are missing the boat on him.”

They surely wouldn’t swab the deck with Vasey’s performances last week, which highlighted the biggest week of the season for the Pioneers. Thousand Oaks and Channel Islands came to Simi Valley with a combined record of 20-5 and Vasey helped to send each home with a loss.

On Wednesday, Channel Islands entered with a 9-1 record and was tied with the Pioneers for first place in the league standings. Vasey needed just 101 pitches and allowed only three hits and one earned run in an 8-2 complete-game win.

On Friday, in a 12-10 win over Thousand Oaks, Vasey relieved James Manzi with the score tied, 10-10, and one out in the seventh. He faced the Nos. 3 and 4 batters in the Lancer lineup and got outs on a fielder’s choice and a strikeout to set the stage for his batting heroics.

Last season, Vasey served up a game-winning home run to Lance Martin in the seventh inning of a 5-4 loss at Thousand Oaks. This time, Vasey came to the plate with Mike Cardenas on second base. Thousand Oaks reliever Tony Siegel came at him with an outside breaking pitch that didn’t induce a swing.

“After he came at me with a slider low and away, I knew he’d come back with a fastball,” Vasey said.

Sure enough, Siegel did. And Vasey sent it sailing over the 340-foot mark in left-center field for a two-run home run that gave Simi Valley a 12-10 win.

His performance added to his already-impressive numbers. In league play, Vasey is 4-0 with an 0.75 ERA and he is hitting .529 with 10 runs batted in.

“His biggest attribute is that he’s such a competitor,” Scyphers said. “He wants to be there when it’s crunch time and he comes through more often than not. When he comes to me in the fifth inning (against Thousand Oaks) and tells me ‘Coach, I can pitch if you need me, my arm feels good,’ even after he just went seven innings on Wednesday, that tells me he’s the kind of kid that will do anything he can to help the ballclub.”

Perhaps one need only glance at Vasey’s letterman’s jacket, which bears the inscription “Vaseball.”

“I don’t care if we’re down 16 runs, up one, or the game is tied,” he said. “I want the ball.”