Royal’s Pitstick Strikes Down Thousand Oaks

Matt Pitstick pitched in when it mattered most for Royal High.

In a Marmonte League baseball game in which pitching by both teams left something to be desired, Pitstick entered in the seventh inning Wednesday and recorded two strikeouts with runners at first and second to preserve Royal’s 6-3 victory over Thousand Oaks.

The victory enabled Royal (19-1, 8-1 in league play), ranked No. 1 in The Times’ regional poll, to remain in first place while Thousand Oaks (13-7, 6-3) fell two games behind. The victory also was the Highlanders’ ninth in a row.

Royal right-hander Bryant Leppard began the seventh in relief of Ryan Nielsen, who had relieved starter Adrian Mendoza (6-1) in the fifth. But Leppard began the inning by walking Brent Hirsh and Steve Yeager, the latter on four pitches.

That prompted a quick visit to the mound by Royal Coach Dan Maye.

“Once we didn’t get the strikes, we knew they were going to be taking,” Maye said. “We knew, mentally, that they didn’t do a good job against Pitty the last time around. We knew he’d throw strikes.”

Finally, someone did. In a game that featured 15 bases on balls, Pitstick moved from first base and took control.

The senior right-hander struck out Mike Lauer on four pitches and induced David Perry to ground into a force play.

Finally, Pitstick fanned Scott Whiting to record his third save.

“[Maye] said I’ve been throwing a lot of strikes lately,” Pitstick said. “The ump had been calling them real tight. I love that situation.”

Royal collected eight hits off three Lancer pitchers and scored all its runs off starter Ryan Lane (3-2). Mendoza gave Royal a 1-0 lead in the first, scoring from third on a passed ball.

Thousand Oaks, which had its nine-game winning streak snapped after suffering its last loss March 22 against Royal, scored two runs in the bottom of the first on a double by Hirsh.

Royal took the lead for good with a three-run second inning highlighted by Mendoza’s run-scoring single. The rally was aided by a pair of Thousand Oaks errors.

Royal stretched its lead to 5-2 in the third on Zack Gordon’s triple and a groundout by Jason Rischel. Royal led, 6-2, when Nielsen drew a bases-loaded walk, allowing Gordon to score in the fifth.

Hirsh’s fifth-inning home run closed out the scoring.