Rice Came Prepared, but Not His Adversary

In what was supposed to be a duel between two of the finest pitchers in the region, only one of them showed up with his best stuff.

With a half-dozen baseball scouts on hand clocking pitches, Royal High’s Scott Rice allowed two hits in five innings and stole the show from Newbury Park’s Ryan Ayers in the Highlanders’ 8-1 victory Friday over the Panthers in a Marmonte League opener.

The Highlanders (5-1-1), defending league champions ranked No. 10 by The Times, weren’t threatened by the No. 5 Panthers (5-1), upstarts who have been touted as title contenders. Rice made sure of that.

“I was real excited about this game since I saw in the papers that [Newbury Park] was the team to beat [in the Marmonte],” Rice said.

Rice (2-0), a 6-foot-6 left-hander who is headed to Arkansas, allowed two-out singles in the first and third innings, walked five and struck out nine before being relieved in the sixth.

He threw 107 pitches, and appeared in full command of his 90-mph fastball.

“Today I seemed like I could throw anything,” he said.”

The same could not be said for University of San Francisco-bound Ayers.

“He threw some great pitches in the middle innings,” Newbury Park Coach Curtis Scott said.

“But he got the ball up on a few pitches and they got it out of the yard.”

Ayers (2-1), who had allowed only one run in 14 innings before Friday, had a hard time throwing strikes, frequently falling behind in the count and giving up the big hit.

Four of the five hits Ayers allowed went for extra bases, including home runs by Brian Lipman, Derek O’Keefe and Rice.

Ayers, who threw 106 pitches before being relieved by Tyler Johnson to start the seventh, walked four and hit four batters while striking out only two.

With runners at second and third, Lipman ripped a 2-1 inside fastball over the center-field fence 360 feet away for a 3-0 Royal lead in the first inning.

Royal added a run in the second when Buzz Byer scored on a wild pitch.

A bases-empty homer by Rice and a two-run homer by O’Keefe in the sixth gave Royal a 7-0 lead.

Newbury Park scored its only run on a wild pitch by Rice.