Trio Hits Road for a Summer Getaway

Consider it their last college prep class: Practical experience 101.

Getting out of town is as important as getting four at-bats a day for Brian Lipman of Royal High, Matt Cunningham of Notre Dame and Spencer Wyman of Camarillo.

Lipman, the region’s career home run leader with 33, will take his lumber to the Ohio Thunder, one of the nation’s top amateur programs.

Cunningham and Wyman, both catchers, are playing for the Minot (N.D.) Greenheads of the wood-bat Northwoods League.

“I think it will be good to go somewhere else before college and spend the summer playing ball and living on my own,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham was so antsy to go he passed up playing in the Bernie Milligan All-Star game and left for Minot the day after Notre Dame played in the Southern Section Division IV final at Dodger Stadium.

Wyman was Cunningham’s teammate on the Houston Astros scout-league team last fall. Now they are teammates again through Aug. 14, facing opponents such as the St. Cloud (Minn.) Riverbats, the Wausau (Wis.) Woodchucks, the Rochester (Minn.) Honkers and the Brainerd (Minn.) Mighty Gulls.

After the summer they could cross paths someday in the College World Series. Wyman is headed for California and Cunningham will attend Rice.

Lipman was recommended to the Thunder by coaches at Troy (Ala.) State, where he will begin in the fall. He is the only Californian on the Thunder.

The Thunder, based in Dayton, Ohio, has become an elite organization, providing the players with living arrangements and a daily workout regimen in addition to a steady diet of games.

The team will host the National Amateur Baseball Federation College Division World Series.

“It’s supposed to be a great program,” Lipman said. “I’ll meet players from all over the country and get into better condition. It should really help prepare me for college.”

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Northwoods League trivia: Josh Smaler, former Cal State Northridge outfielder, holds the third-highest batting average in Northwoods history.

Smaler hit .391 in 1994 for the Wausau Woodchucks.

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Center fielder J.D. Peterson is playing for the Camarillo American Legion team after missing the second half of the high school season because he was academically ineligible.

Peterson, a junior, was 28 for 62 (.452) before becoming ineligible. Coach Scott Cline believes he is the fastest player in Ventura County.

“He’s a great kid who has made tremendous improvement off the field,” Cline said. “He slipped in the classroom and paid the consequences.

“It’s great that he’s back in the program.”

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In Camarillo’s surprisingly easy 21-5 victory over Westlake last weekend, freshman right-hander Delmon Young pitched four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and twice reaching 90 mph on a radar gun.

Young pitched only 17 innings during the high school season, focusing on batting. He was 46 for 100 with 40 runs batted in.

“To have a 14-year-old hit 90 mph is unbelievable,” Cline said.

Cline plans to move Young from right field to left field next season because it is a more difficult position at Camarillo’s windy field.

When he’s not pitching, that is.

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The hottest team in the region doesn’t care if the schedule says high school regular season, City Section playoffs or Legion.

Kennedy just keeps winning.

The Legion team--called Granada Hills Kennedy--defeated highly touted and previously unbeaten Van Nuys Show Ball, 4-3, in a nine-inning game Sunday. It was the 10th victory in a row for players who were part of the Kennedy squad that won the City Championship last week at Dodger Stadium.

Chad Shaw hit a game-winning home run and catcher Phil Avlas was four for four. Juan Sepulveda, normally the Kennedy shortstop, notched the victory in relief.

Van Nuys Show Ball, the early favorite to win the District 20 title, could be excused for letting the game slip away: It was the team’s seventh game in six days.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Baseball Standings

American Legion

District 16 (18-and-under)

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W L GB Ojai* 8 0 -- Oxnard 6 4 2 Moorpark* 4 3 3 1/2 Agoura 3 7 6 Simi Valley 2 7 6 1/2 Ventura 0 2 7

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District 16 (17-and-under)

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W L GB Camarillo 1 5 0 -- Simi Valley-Royal 4 1 1 Newbury Park 6 2 1 Camarillo 2 4 3 1 1/2 Ojai 4 3 1 1/2 Thousand Oaks 3 3 2 1/2 Westlake 2 2 2 1/2 Simi Valley 2 4 3 1/2 Moorpark 1 6 5 Oak Park 0 7 6

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* one tie