TWO OF A KIND

Lockin and Leavitt.

Sounds like a TV show featuring slick-talking, hard-boiled crime fighters who drive fast cars and end every episode with winning grins.

But this is a real-life dynamic duo of slick-fielding, hard-hitting infielders who drive fastballs and end every game with winning grins.

Most games, anyway.

Shortstop Billy Lockin and second baseman Adam Leavitt form the backbone of a Thousand Oaks High infield that has spearheaded a 14-3 record and a No. 6 regional ranking by The Times.

Lockin and Leavitt. A senior middle-infield combination of three varsity seasons, one junior varsity season, four American Legion summers and numerous travel-team tournaments.

Lockin and Leavitt. Married couples should spend as much time together. They are dance partners who never touch, a dyadic dynamo who complement each other like. . . .

“Salt and pepper,” Leavitt said.

Lockin is shakin’ all over. A wiry 5-foot-9, 145 pounds, he bats leadoff, steals bases, slides head-first, charges ground balls and has a motor mouth.

Leavitt is level-headed. Much stronger than his 5-8, 160-pound frame suggests, he stays on an even keel, letting his .580 batting average and breathtaking defense do the talking.

“It’s like in the big leagues when you have guys who play together for years and years,” Coach Bill Sizemore of Thousand Oaks said. “They learn what the other will do in any situation. There is an unspoken language.”

Leavitt cools Lockin.

“Billy will lose it and I tell him to look at me,” Leavitt said. “I tell him, ‘If you have anything to say, say it to me.’ He grunts a lot. He’s very emotional, which is why he’s so good.”

Lockin loosens Leavitt.

“Adam doesn’t show it but he gets tied up inside,” Lockin said. “Sometimes all it takes is a look from me. I’ll make a weird face or something and he relaxes.”

Off the field, they are close friends. They have worn the same make of glove throughout high school, buying them and breaking them in together. They each put in $160 for a bat a year ago and used it until it broke.

They even share luck. At the Team One showcase last summer in Tempe, Ariz., they were randomly placed on the same team, enabling them to display their binary brand of baseball in front of scouts and college coaches.

Still, they did not receive scholarship offers from the same school. Lockin committed to Loyola Marymount and Leavitt committed to Troy State, a solid Division I program in Alabama. Neither has signed a letter of intent.

“One of the things that worries me most about college is that I won’t have Adam to feed to and he won’t be able to feed me,” Lockin said.

He isn’t referring to lunch. They have turned more than 50 double plays in three seasons, double that of a typical high school middle infield.

Yet their stellar credentials--impeccable defense and batting averages well over .300 since their sophomore seasons--were not enough to make the Area Code Games last summer.

Undersized and feeling unappreciated, they nevertheless drove to Blair Field in Long Beach to support teammate Chris Cordeiro in the Area Code Games. Privately, they seethed.

“That was a wake-up call and it got us mad too,” Lockin said. “We both hit over .500 in American Legion and thought we had proved ourselves. But it made me realize I wasn’t who I thought I was. Even though deep down we both still believed in ourselves.”

Heart isn’t measured as easily as height and weight, so consider this. . . .

Lockin broke the middle finger on his left hand during the winter and it remains disfigured. Surgery would have caused him to miss much of this season, so he plays through the pain and after a slow start is batting .404.

Leavitt knew he needed to improve his power to gain a scholarship. He reported to the Thousand Oaks weight room at 4:45 a.m. every day during the fall semester. Result: He is 29 for 50 with four home runs.

“They are their own worst critics,” Sizemore said. “They taught me something. Not every player needs me on them all the time.”

Especially when they motivate one another.

Lockin’s reckless abandon is tempered by Leavitt’s steady hand. Leavitt’s deep intensity is tempered by Lockin’s outgoing nature.

Their games have been honed by excellent coaching. Besides Sizemore, they credit two former minor league infielders: Nez Balelo, who coached them on scout and travel teams, and Rod Stillwell, a first-year Lancer assistant who played shortstop at Thousand Oaks in the 1980s.

As their high school careers wind to a close, Lockin and Leavitt are focused on team goals. Today, they desperately want to defeat unbeaten Westlake and pull into a tie for first place in the Marmonte League. Next month, they want to help the Lancers make a deep playoff run.

The last out of a victory over Westlake or a playoff opponent? Like any good player, each wants the ball hit to him. If not, their partner will do fine.

Said Lockin: “Whenever the ball is hit to Adam, it’s like the ball is hit to me. I have so much faith in that kid.”

Said Leavitt: “Hit it to me or hit it to Billy. Either way, it’s OK.”

Better yet, turn two.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BY THE NUMBERS

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2000 AB R H AVG Adam Leavitt 50 21 29 .553 Billy Lockin 47 19 19 .404 1999 Adam Leavitt 83 22 31 .373 Billy Lockin 91 22 39 .429 1998 Adam Leavitt 73 20 24 .329 Billy Lockin 74 22 24 .324 Totals Adam Leavitt 206 63 84 .407 Billy Lockin 212 63 82 .386

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