Torrid Chatsworth Defeats Taft, 11-4, Gains Share of 1st

First base, first place: It’s sequential. Teams typically don’t achieve the latter without getting past the former. In Taft High’s loss Wednesday, matters were as simple as that.

The Toreadors had two baserunners picked off first and another erased when he was hit by a ground single. Chatsworth took full advantage to win, 11-4, in a West Valley League game at Chatsworth.

The victory moved streaking Chatsworth (12-9, 8-5 in league play) into a three-way tie for first with Taft (10-7-1, 8-5) and El Camino Real (12-6, 8-5) with four regular-season games remaining. It was the Chancellors’ sixth consecutive victory, but it was not particularly easy--or pretty.

With runners on first and third in the second and third innings, Taft twice fell for the old fake-to-third, throw-to-first pickoff play. Chatsworth right-hander Brandon Nickens racked up key outs at first to short-circuit Taft rallies.

“Everybody runs that play,” Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn said. “I don’t know why it worked. Guess we were lucky.”

With Taft trailing, 10-4, in the fourth, baserunner Matt Allison was ruled out when he was clipped in the foot by a single by Jason Biller.

With Chatsworth holding a 6-3 lead in the third, Nickens was hit on the right elbow by a run-scoring single through the box by Gregg Rosenzweig. He was replaced by Eric Holliday, who restored order.

Holliday pitched 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and hit a two-run triple to right field in the fourth that gave Chatsworth a 10-4 lead. It marked the first varsity at-bat for Holliday, who has pitched 12 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

Chatsworth sophomore Bryan LaCour, sidelined most of the season because of a broken right ankle, smashed a two-run triple in the second that tied the score, 3-3. LaCour, who scored on the play when the cutoff was bobbled in center, is seven for 12 since returning.

Taft catcher Stacy Kleiner, who had two triples, left the game in the fifth when he was struck in the left ear by a foul tip. Kleiner suffered a scratch on his inner ear and was treated and released at a local hospital. Precautionary X-rays taken on Nickens’ forearm also proved negative.