Sinking Feeling in State Opener

Minutes before the Santa Susana American Legion baseball team opened play at the state tournament Saturday, a hot air balloon drew attention with a rapid landing near Cleve Borman Stadium.

Ninety minutes later, it was Santa Susana’s hopes that were deflated, after the Simi Valley-based team fell to Ontario, 1-0. Santa Susana faces Long Beach Wilson at 9 a.m. today in a loser’s bracket game in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament.

Ontario’s Jason Walker (8-0) tossed a one-hitter, allowing only a bad-hop single down the third-base line by Andy Gerber in the sixth inning.

Walker, a recent graduate of Ontario High, has signed with Pacific and was an 11th-round selection of the Montreal Expos in the recent amateur draft. The left-hander struck out six, walked none and hit a batter.

A scout toting a radar gun reported Walker’s average pitch speed to be about 80 mph. But the left-hander’s ability to pinpoint his pitches and change speeds was impressive.

“[Walker] hit his spots and didn’t leave us much to hit,” said Santa Susana co-Coach Hal Byer. “It was a battle of two good lefties out there.”

Santa Susana’s Mike Byer (7-1), allowed eight hits and one earned run. Ontario’s Pat Gonzalez singled, stole second and third and scored on a single by Josh Kashima in the third inning.

“I thought I kept us in the game but we just couldn’t get any hits,” said Byer, who struck out five and walked none. “The consensus of the team was that [Walker] was doing it with his fastball and changeup. Guys were coming back to the bench saying they couldn’t believe they hadn’t dug into a couple of those pitches.”

Santa Susana, which did not advance a runner past first base, had its best chances on two long outs. In the sixth, Tony Ortega hit a shot that Ontario center fielder Wesley Young snared as he hit the wall. Young also tracked down an Andy Karp fly on the warning track to end the game.

Santa Susana must now win five games to claim the state title. The tournament’s top two finishers advance to regional play, one at Miles City, Mont., the other at Las Cruces, N.M.

Santa Susana committed three errors and looked ill at ease even before the game.

“We took a real bad pregame [warmup] today and it was a telltale sign, I guess,” said shortstop Brett Wayne, who committed one of the miscues.

Said Mike Byer: “We can’t expect to win when we have more errors than hits. That just doesn’t cut it at the state tournament.”

Notes

* Santa Susana, whose players and coaches had to juggle work and vacation plans to attend the tournament, are without leadoff hitter Todd Scherwin.

Scherwin, a recent Simi Valley High graduate who honored a commitment to work as a camp counselor, was the team’s leadoff hitter. He was batting .352 with 20 stolen bases.

* Ontario is making its third consecutive tournament appearance and Walker, the team’s pitcher on Saturday, said it makes a difference.

“It’s a big advantage because you have to have the right state of mind up here,” said Walker, who like all the tournament’s players and coaches, is staying in dorms at the Veterans’ Home in Yountville. “We have a charter bus and we go to town to eat. You just have to accept that there isn’t much to do here.”

* Brett Wayne (3-0) will be today’s starter for Santa Susana. Wayne has a 1.11 earned-run average in 19 innings and teamed with Byer to pitch Royal High to the Marmonte League title this spring.

Hal Byer said Tim Say (3-4, 4.62 ERA) will be used after Wayne.