Leveque Sniffs Out Another Victory : Legion baseball: Van Nuys-Notre Dame left-hander survives shaky start in 13-5 win over Granada Hills West.

Teammates call left-hander Chris Leveque “Sniffer,” because of his unique habit of smelling baseballs, his glove, his hat or just about anything else he can lay a nostril on.

After one inning Wednesday, he almost needed smelling salts.

Leveque surrendered four runs in the first--including three on a 400-foot home run--and his top-seeded Van Nuys-Notre Dame team was suddenly in a rather tenuous position.

“We were all kinda down after the first,” third baseman Lou Tapia said. “But ‘Sniff’ stayed within himself and came back.”

And Leveque (6-1) kept Granada Hills West within the ballpark while his teammates rallied for a 13-5 victory in the American Legion District 20 playoffs at Burroughs High.

“You can chase Leveque with an inning like that,” Granada Hills West Coach George Saul said. “Good teams build on a good inning like that. It was almost a bad omen to do that in the first.”

With Granada Hills leading, 1-0, in the first, Robert Vazquez hammered a three-run shot over the fence in straightaway center, more than 400 feet away. Van Nuys (22-2) didn’t wobble, however.

With Van Nuys still trailing by four runs in the third, Dave Supple singled in two runs and Tapia drove in another as Van Nuys scored four times to tie the score at 4-4. In the next inning, Tapia turned the momentum around for good.

With runners at first and second, he ripped a Dan Martin (2-1) pitch over the fence in left to hand Van Nuys a 7-4 lead. Almost as important, it put Tapia on equal ground with Vazquez, a teammate at Pierce College last spring.

“I wanted to hit one as far as he did,” Tapia said. “We used to have contests all the time.”

Thereafter, it was no contest at all. Leveque, showing perhaps his best control of the season, pitched eight strong innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

“My control’s been a lot better lately,” Leveque said. “When I throw strikes, we usually win.”

Granada Hills trotted out five pitchers, including infielder Dave Cipolla and outfielder Brian Basowski. Things got so bad in the ninth that the plate umpire ejected five Granada Hills players--the entire bench--for their critical review of his work.

Van Nuys will face Verdugo Hills today at 4:30 p.m. at Burroughs High. Granada Hills West (18-7) will play Sun Valley in an elimination game today at 4 p.m. at Pierce College.