Thousand Oaks’ Nichols May Swipe a School Record

The catcher hasn’t strapped on his chest protector who can throw out Jamal Nichols attempting to steal. At least, that’s how Nichols likes to think. And he’s usually right.

Nichols, a senior and leadoff batter for Thousand Oaks High, stole six bases last week--including four to go with a four-for-four performance at the plate against Westlake--to raise his season total to 27. Nichols had a double in four at-bats Wednesday against Channel Islands but did not steal a base.

With at least seven games remaining, Nichols, whose on-base percentage is .536, is within reach of the Lancers’ single-season record of 38 stolen bases, set by Ryan Kritscher in 1991. The pair played together last summer for Newbury Oaks, which won the American Legion World Series.

“I’ve worked on my slide so much, I grab a certain part of the base every time,” Nichols said. “If I get a jump, I’m there.”

If Nichols seems a bit cocky about his thievery, so be it. He says he has been timed at 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash. And he has more than walked his talk on the basepaths.

Nichols has been thrown out once, by Kevin Nykoluk of Simi Valley. However, that came on a failed hit-and-run attempt in which Nichols says he hesitated.

“Straight steal, I haven’t been caught,” Nichols said.

He has stolen third base five times and leads the Lancers in runs with 20. About the only thing Nichols hasn’t done this season is steal home.

“No, but I can do it,” he said. “I just haven’t been in the situation where I need to steal home to score.”

VOLLEYBALL

Talk about a recruiting edge.

Joe and Josh Penrod of Royal accepted volleyball scholarships to Brigham Young, giving BYU a perfect six-for-six score when it comes to the Penrod family.

The 6-foot-7 twins’ older brothers--John, 29, and Rich, 27--went to BYU, and sister Liz and brother Dave currently attend the school.

But Josh said that their choice wasn’t by design.

“I didn’t decide because of the family,” he said. “It was totally separate from them going before. If it worked out otherwise, we would have gone to other schools.”

Pepperdine also heavily recruited the twins, both all-league selections last season, but the Penrods preferred BYU’s emphasis on big men.

“Besides being able to afford (BYU), we checked around and looked at stats and the coaches there do an excellent job coaching middle blockers,” Josh said.

NORTHWEST VALLEY

CONFERENCE

BASEBALL

How fast is El Camino Real outfielder Justin Martin? Coach Mike Maio says he has never had a quicker ballplayer.

“He can change the whole complexion of a game,” Maio said.

But the real test comes on Fridays, when he runs for the track team. Last week in a meet against Chatsworth, Martin won the 100 meters in 11.3 seconds and the 200 in 22.8 on a dirt track, even though he doesn’t work out with the team. Martin, a junior, has swiped a conference-high 12 bases and is batting .436 (17 for 39). . . .

Kennedy’s 2-1 victory over Chatsworth last week will go down in Golden Cougar Coach Manny Alvarado’s mental scrapbook as one of the best high school games he has seen.

“I guess it would have to,” he said, deadpanned.

For the participants, it was 3 hours 50 minutes of life on the edge, a baseball bungee jump with tension at every turn. Finally, Kennedy took advantage of two errors to score twice in the bottom of the 11th to pull out the victory. A potential game-ending double play grounder was thrown away at first, allowing the tying and winning runs to score. . . .

Chatsworth wins the Good Samaritan award for the week. Last weekend, the Chancellors planted trees to help spruce up the Metrolink train station located on Devonshire Street in Chatsworth.

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Luis Sanchez is accustomed to winning-- all the time.

In little more than a season and a half, the Hart sophomore right-hander has yet to lose. The Indians’ No. 2 starter, Sanchez was 7-0 with a 3.66 earned-run average as a freshman. So far this season, he is 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA.

Sanchez has tied what is believed to be the school record for consecutive wins set by Jason Edwards (11-0) in 1988. Murray is not surprised by his precocious pitcher’s accomplishments.

“He has been far ahead of any freshman or sophomore pitcher we’ve had here,” said Murray, who is in his 15th season as the Indians’ coach. “The amazing thing is that he’s 15. He’s going to get even tougher to beat.”

MISSION LEAGUE

TRACK & FIELD

While many track insiders were impressed when Jesse Stern of Harvard-Westlake raised his personal best in the pole vault to 16 feet 1 inch in a meet against visiting Bishop Montgomery on Tuesday, Stern figured, “It’s about time.”

Although the senior had been hampered by a lower back injury during the early part of the year, he figured he had been ready for a 16-foot vault for several weeks.

The effort--his best before Tuesday was 15-4--came at just the right time for Stern, who had begun to wonder if his preseason goal of 17-0 was a bit beyond reach.

“As of last week, I was starting to think I should revaluate my goals,” Stern said. “But now, anything is possible.”

Stern’s performance moved him to fifth on the all-time region list behind Anthony Curran of Crespi (17-4 1/4 in 1978), Tom Parker of Notre Dame (17-0 in 88), Brian Worden of Notre Dame (16-6 in 75) and Tim Curran--Anthony’s brother--of Crespi (16-2 3/4 in 73). . . .

Kennedy Cosgrove and staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Vince Kowalick, John Ortega and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.