Woodland Hills West Bangs Out Winning Tune Behind Johnson

Jeff Leppard?

Bennie and the Jeffs?

Woodland Hills West right-hander Jeff Johnson, truth be told, doesn’t hold all this pitching stuff in particularly high regard. In his spare time, he is the guitar whiz for a band called “Silent Rain.”

Johnson and Woodland Hills West rained silence on the bats of Granada Hills West on Tuesday, pounding out 14 hits in an 11-1 victory in an American Legion District 20 Western Division game at The Master’s College that was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

“He wants to be a musician,” Woodland Hills West Coach Don Hornback said. “When he’s not at games because of his band, everybody understands.”

It marked the first time this summer that Granada Hills West (13-4) had been beaten by more than two runs, and the issue was not in doubt for long.

Woodland Hills West (15-5) banged around starter Robert Vazquez--who beat Woodland Hills, 4-1, a week earlier--and scored four runs in the second for a 5-1 lead. Johnson held Granada Hills to three hits, walked seven and struck out two.

Leadoff batter Jeff Astgen set the tone when he crushed a double off the fence in left to open the bottom of the first. Astgen, a fleet second baseman who was elevated to the leadoff spot this month, was three for four and swiped three bases.

Two of Astgen’s hits never left the infield--he has 17 infield hits.

Yet Astgen was more concerned about a recent bad habit he acquired--bolting from the batter’s box as he swings. When Astgen plays hit and run, he does it with a new wrinkle.

“They even said on that first one (double) that I was reaching out for it,” Astgen said. “I’m trying to cure myself of that.”

The Woodland Hills West defense provided the perfect antidote to Granada Hills’ bats. The Woodland Hills defense twice turned 6-4-3 double plays to bail out Johnson (2-0) in the early innings.

Woodland Hills opened the fourth with consecutive triples off reliever Matt Livingston and Dan Baker and Astgen followed with run-scoring singles. Dan Cey and Mike Smith added run-scoring singles to cap the five-run burst that expanded the lead to 10-1.

The bottom three places in the Woodland Hills batting order--John Novak, Mike McLean and Baker--were a combined six for seven and scored seven runs.