1994 LOS ANGELES TIMES : All-Ventura Baseball Team : Player & Pitcher of the Year : For Winners Only : Ray Clinton: Newbury Park High senior was tough to beat--even when he wasn’t at the top of his game.

Two games symbolize Newbury Park High right-hander Ray Clinton this season. One in which he was in total command. One in which he was constantly in trouble.

But both were Panther victories.

Clinton, The Times’ Ventura County pitcher of the year, downed Camarillo, 5-1, with a masterful two-hitter March 25. The other game was a no-decision against Simi Valley on April 29. It was a game that Newbury Park needed to win if it was to hang on for the Marmonte League title. Clinton allowed seven runs in the first three innings, but he escaped jams the rest of the eight innings he pitched, giving his teammates a chance to win, which they did in the 10th, 9-7.

“It wasn’t pretty from a pitching standpoint,” Newbury Park Coach Gary Fabricius said, “but both he and (Simi Valley starter Kary) Kozlowski were in and out of trouble the whole time. It showed what kind of competitors they were.”

Clinton’s 10 victories were the most in the county and a Newbury Park record. He finished 10-3 with a 1.41 earned-run average. During one stretch early in the year, Clinton seemed to find a way to win even when he wasn’t the starting pitcher. He entered a game against Channel Islands with the score tied and earned a victory.

And in two other games he was called on to protect leads for Keith Smith, but he blew them and collected the victories himself.

Posting the school record for wins was among the goals Clinton set during the off-season. He realized he must lower his ERA from last year’s 4.60 to do so.

Clinton (6-foot-1, 165 pounds) set another goal for the team: a Southern Section title. The team came up short, though, losing in the second round of the Division I playoffs. But Clinton won his only playoff start, a four-hit shutout against Hoover in the first round.

1st-Team All-Stars Invited to Times’ Awards Ceremony

Players selected to the All-Valley and All-Ventura County baseball and softball teams are invited to a Times’ awards brunch Sunday at 9 a.m. at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills. The guest speaker is Rich Hill, baseball coach at University of San Francisco who formerly coached at Cal Lutheran.