Baseball: Some more SF Valley/North diamond notes
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Heading into the penultimate week of the spring sports season, I thought I’d give everybody out there a quick rundown of some of the names who are making an impact:
- Nik Rodarte, pictured, continues to play a central role in Notre Dame‘s Mission League and Division III title aspirations. He’s sporting a 1.81 ERA through 50 innings and, dating back to last year, he’s won 11 of his last 12 starts. None of those wins came against wimpy teams, either. Rodarte is also sporting a .379 batting average and 23 RBIs -- three of which came on a walk-off, three-run double in a 7-6 victory over Alemany on Friday. It’ll be interesting to see how Rodarte compares side-by-side with Crespi’s talented pitching stable next week.
- If Highland is going to make the postseason, Friday’s 10-6 victory over Lancaster might be a good omen. It marked the Bulldogs’ first victory over Lancaster in four years and pushed them into a third-place tie with the Eagles. Seniors Andrew Petrovsky and Alex Mann have been at the forefront of Highland’s push -- both are batting .443 and have five triples (one shy of the team record set by Minnesota Twins outfielder Jason Kubel). Of course, closing out the season against Palmdale and Quartz Hill won’t be a day of skips and giggles at the ol’ ball field.
- One of the reasons why I’m not afraid to make an 11th-hour prediction declaring Crescenta Valley as the next Pacific League champion is because it has Kris Kauppila on its side. The University of Portland-bound leadoff batter has 11 hits in his last 12 plate appearances, pushing his BA up to .555 entering tonight’s game with Burbank Burroughs. He has also has 21 RBIs and three home runs. His younger brother, Lonnie, has also helped. He’s batting .440 with 21 RBIs.
- Camarillo has hung tough in Pacific View League play and I’m really looking forward to seeing if it can beat title favorite Oxnard when the teams meet in the league finale on May 8. Of course, having a guy like Jacob Mahan on your side certainly helps. The UC Santa Barbara-bound second baseman is batting a team-best .488 with 22 RBIs and three home runs. Teammates Bryan Willson (.447 BA, 18 RBIs, 6 HRs) and Nathan Johnson (.447, 19 RBIs) have done their part, too.
-- Austin Knoblauch
