HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK

Quartz Hill won the Golden League title in 1996 but followed that with four seasons of mediocrity. The program appears on the upswing again.

The Rebels, 26-31 in league play the previous four years, have rebounded with a strong start this season.

Quartz Hill (7-3, 4-0) can thank senior right-handers Kyle Blankemeyer and Garyd Casteel.

Blankemeyer (2-0) has a good fastball, a deceiving changeup and a 2.63 earned-run average. Casteel (2-1, 1.26 ERA) uses a different approach--a knuckleball.

Mix in a potent offense--senior outfielder Carlos Burkhart is batting .633--and it’s easy to see why Quartz Hill is tied for first place with Lancaster.

“I think we’ve tried to get the program going again,” Coach Maury Cauchon said. “We were competitive in the past, but we had some high schools [Highland and Lancaster] open up around us and we’ve been in a rebuilding process. We’ve kind of got back into the groove.”

The Rebels host Lancaster (8-2, 4-0) today.

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At the heart of Canyon’s struggles is an inconsistent offense and unreliable defense that has put the pinch on Loyola Marymount-bound pitcher Chris Seddon.

Seddon, a 6-foot-4 left-hander, is 0-4 with a 1.40 ERA.

Seddon lost to Royal, 4-3, on four unearned runs, and lost to Camarillo, 3-2, on three unearned runs. He struck out 10 against Camarillo.

“We’ve not been scoring runs for him,” Coach Adam Schulhofer said. “We’ve not been making plays for him. On the one hand, I feel for him. But on the other hand, there’s nothing else he can do but keep getting out there. Our team will start scoring for him.”

Canyon (5-4-1, 2-2) was expected to challenge Hart for the Foothill League title but stumbled out of the gate. The Cowboys showed signs of recovering by defeating second-place Burroughs, 11-5, on Tuesday.

“It’s not time to panic yet,” Schulhofer said. “We know we have to work on some things. We’ve played average baseball the first third of the season, but we’ll get [to play] everybody again in league.”