Long Ball Puts Away Simi Valley : Baseball: Shawn Adams’ eighth-inning home run gives Newbury Park 8-6 victory.

Because there is only one bullpen at Simi Valley High, opposing pitchers Bill Scheffels of Simi Valley and Keith Smith of Newbury Park warmed up side by side before Wednesday’s Marmonte League game.

It was an impressive sight: two of Ventura County’s best high school pitchers, popping fastball after fastball without giving each other so much as a glance. They seemed primed for the pitcher’s duel that about 20 professional scouts had come to see.

Little did they know.

Newbury Park defeated Simi Valley, 8-6, in eight innings. Neither Smith nor Scheffels was involved in the decision, but Scheffels was not far from it.

Scheffels, who left the mound in the sixth only to return in the eighth, gave up three home runs, including Shawn Adams’ two-run shot to left field in the eighth inning.

Scheffels said he had never watched three of his pitches hit over the fence in one game. Simi Valley Coach Mike Scyphers guessed Scheffels did not give up three home runs all of last season, when the right-hander was 11-2.

Adams (5-foot-5, 135 pounds) was equally surprised that he and his teammates could tee off on the All-Southern Section pitcher. Brian Collins and Ray Clinton hit the other home runs.

“I thought we could get some hits, but not three home runs,” Adams said.

Adams’ home run helped Newbury Park (10-4, 3-0 in league play) take over into first place in the Marmonte League, overtaking Simi Valley (10-2, 4-1), The Times’ top-ranked team in the region.

It also helped erase what might have been a disastrous game for the Panthers. Smith took a 6-3 lead into the seventh, but when the Pioneers put runners at first and third with one out, Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius brought in Clinton from third base to relieve Smith.

Clinton proceeded to walk Jeff Michael, give up a two-run double to Brian Kavanagh and, two batters later, hit Robert Gonzalez with a 3-and-2, two-out pitch with the bases loaded, forcing in the tying run. The Panthers got out of the inning when Kary Kozlowski grounded to shortstop.

Fabricius said he didn’t regret bringing in Clinton (5-2). Not after Adams’ home run, anyway.

“We consider (Smith and Clinton) Nos. 1A and 1B,” he said. “We have no second thoughts. Obviously that’s easy to say when you win, though.”

Another key moment came in the seventh when Scyphers pinch-hit for relief pitcher Jeff Weaver with Simi Valley trailing, 6-5. That move forced Scyphers to bring in junior Casey Vermette (0-1) to start the eighth. Vermette yielded a leadoff double to Clinton before he was removed in favor of Scheffels, who had moved to first base.

Scheffels retired Brian Waite and Smith before he gave up Adams’ second home run of the season. Scheffels said he felt fine even though he had only five warm-up pitches after playing first base for two innings.

“I thought I felt good,” he said. “I guess I just didn’t have my stuff.”

In his two stints on the mound, Scheffels pitched a total of six innings. He gave up seven runs, eight hits and he walked six.

“I was kind of disappointed in his control,” catcher Neil Oberheide said. “He usually is a lot better. . . . His ball was up too, and that’s why he was giving up some home runs.”

Clinton’s two-run home run in the fourth tied the score, 3-3. It came after Simi Valley shortstop Dan Schwartz bobbled a ground ball that could have been turned into an inning-ending double play.

Newbury Park took a 6-3 lead in the fifth. Jeff Bennett drove in a run with a single off the fence in right field--the runners held to see if the ball would be caught--and first baseman Kes Anderson drove in two runs with a single to right.

Scheffels led Simi Valley to three hits, including a double off the fence in straightaway center field. Kavanagh had two hits and three runs batted in.