AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL : STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Newbury Oaks Wins Behind Curran, 9-5

Tighe Curran, the season-long No. 2 starter for the Newbury Oaks American Legion baseball team, has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight.

Curran pitched five near-perfect innings of relief Saturday as Newbury Oaks opened the state tournament with a 9-5 victory over Gahr of Cerritos at Borman Field.

Curran, a left-hander, will start today when Newbury Oaks (28-1) seeks its 29th win in a row at noon against Sacramento (35-6), which lost to Merced (27-7), 10-2.

“Tighe is real flexible,” Newbury Oaks Coach Chuck Fick said. “He’ll get the ball again (today).”

Curran knows what it’s like to be a workhorse. While his teammates were in high school or college this past year, Curran labored in a warehouse.

“I had some personal problems I had to deal with,” said Curran, explaining why he did not attend college last year after graduating from Newbury Park High. He will attend Ventura College this fall.

Curran’s performance against Gahr was workmanlike. He picked up for starter Adam West to begin the bottom of the fifth inning with the score tied, 5-5, gave up a leadoff single to Jose Gutierrez, then retired the last 14 batters. Because Gutierrez was caught stealing, Curran faced the minimum 15 batters in five innings, striking out six.

“It was typical of how he has pitched this year,” Newbury Oaks catcher Robert Fick said. Curran, a change-of-speed specialist, raised his record to 7-0 and lowered his earned-run average to 2.06.

But this was not one of Newbury Oaks’ easier wins. Gahr (18-3) had two runs before West could record an out, and Gahr had a 5-3 lead until the fifth, when Jeff Olin’s two-run single tied the score. Olin hit a high curve that landed inches inside the right-field line, but it was not the last of Gahr relief pitcher Bill Zapata’s problems.

Newbury Oaks went ahead, 6-5, in the sixth inning when Ryan Kritscher’s sacrifice fly to center field drove in Jeff Hook. Hook had advanced into scoring position on a balk.

Fick then made it 9-5 in the eighth with a three-run homer. The center-field fence is only 364 feet from home plate, and local observers refer to Borman Field as a “launching pad,” but Fick’s drive traveled well over the fence.

“He got me out the first time with a knuckler, so I decided to lay off it and wait for a fastball,” Fick said.

Fick’s three runs batted in padded his season total to 46. He entered the game with a .525 batting average.

Newbury Oaks finished with 12 hits, including at least one from every starter and substitute who batted, but Gahr did most of the hitting early in the game.

Gahr scored twice in the first inning when Tony Calderon walked, Peter Alvarez singled, Chuck Lopez doubled to drive in Calderon, and Jose Alvarez singled to drive in Peter Alvarez.

Newbury Oaks scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings. The run in the second came on a throwing error, and in the third Kritscher scored on a double by David Lamb. The fourth-inning run was scored by Jim Chergey on a groundout by Jamal Nichols.

Nichols and Lamb each had two hits.

Gahr scored two runs in the second to take a 4-1 lead on RBI singles by Peter Alvarez and Lopez. Peter Alvarez, the only player who had three hits, figured in the fifth Gahr run in the fourth inning by singling Calderon to third base. Calderon scored when Lopez hit into a force out.