Lipman’s Reduction Leads to Production

Two years after nearly eating his way out of baseball, Brian Lipman is still feasting.

On fastballs, curveballs and change-ups.

Lipman, 6 feet and 210 pounds after dropping 30 pounds, has dropped 33 home runs on opponents in his three-year Royal High career, equaling the regional record set last week by Delwyn Young of Littlerock.

Young’s season is over because Littlerock didn’t make the playoffs. Lipman plays today at Whittier California thanks to Royal’s 13-2 wild-card victory over Canyon on Tuesday.

Lipman hit No. 33 in that game. It was his school-record 13th homer of the season.

“It’s in the legs,” Lipman said. “That’s where the power comes from.”

Then what about the singles and doubles? Lipman is batting .550 and has 47 hits.

“I don’t consider myself a home-run hitter,” he said. “But I do like to hit home runs.”

Lipman credits much of his success to his father, Glenn, a longtime Royal administrator.

Lipman’s late grandfather, Hal, was assistant superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District for many years.

“My dad taught me everything about hitting,” he said. “We go over counts, what to look for, what different pitchers throw, everything.”

But it is Lipman who takes the pitch and drives it out of the park. He hit 11 last season while batting .475 and nine as a sophomore while batting .417.

Troy State, a Division I school in Alabama, will be the beneficiary of Lipman’s power the next several years.

“The wind blows out at their park,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

The regional career home run record before this season was 32, set by Scott Sharts of Simi Valley from 1986-88. Lipman considers it an honor to be mentioned alongside Sharts.

“Kids all around Simi Valley always talked about his power,” Lipman said.

To be sure, kids all around Simi Valley will talk about Lipman’s power now.

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Behind two pitchers with eight victories each and the region’s leading hitter, Nordhoff (15-4, 9-1 in Frontier League play) won its first league title in school history, dating to before World War II.

John Hill helped the Rangers get over the hump, batting .571 with 37 runs batted in.

A senior four-year starter, Hill plays shortstop. He played quarterback and linebacker on the football team, which advanced to a Southern Section final last fall.

Hill, 6 feet and 195 pounds, has been a strong hitter for several years, batting .403 as a sophomore and .515 last season. He’s also quite a hitter on the football field, being credited with more than 100 tackles in each of the last two seasons.

“He’s trying to find a school that will let him play two sports,” said Bob Hill, John’s father.

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Thousand Oaks High administrators don’t have to look far to find a qualified replacement for Coach Bill Sizemore, who resigned after five seasons, effective after the playoffs.

Three strong candidates are teachers at Thousand Oaks.

Rod Stillwell, youngest son of former Lancer Coach Ron Stillwell and brother of former major league infielder Kurt Stillwell, is the Thousand Oaks third-base coach and former head coach at Serrano.

Scott Mastroianni, another Lancer assistant, previously coached at Westlake.

Gary Wagner is a Moorpark College assistant and former member of the Thousand Oaks staff.

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Division III Baseball West Regional Tournament

at Georgetown, Texas

Thursday’s Results

Cal Lutheran 11, George Fox 7

Chapman 8, Southwestern 4

Today’s Games

Game 3--Cal Lutheran vs.

Chapman, 9 a.m.

Game 4--George Fox vs.

Southwestern, 1 p.m.

Game 5--Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 5 p.m.

Saturday’s Games

Game 6--Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 11 a.m.

Game 7--If necessary.