Sunday, March 05, 2006

Scouting Report: L.A. Baptist Knights

The Sharks take on the L.A. Baptist Knights tomorrow in a game rescheduled from Friday. Malibu is coming off a 3-1 loss to Santa Monica in the first game of the SoCal Invitational. L.A. Baptist has not yet played this season.

The Knights finished the 2005 season with an 18-4 record. Ranked in the CIF-SS Division V top ten for most of the year (and climbing as high as number two), L.A. Baptist was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by Oaks Christian.

Coach Carl Gschwender's Knights are led this season by senior catcher Matt Berru (.269 BA in 2005) and junior pitcher Tom Gilbertson (3-0 record in 2005). Ryan Deyoung and Jason Pratts are the only other players returning from last year's team.

Malibu and L.A. Baptist met in the opening game of the 2004 Harvard Westlake Christmas tournament. Malibu came away with a 5-4 win. Wesley Semkin pitched two shutout innings to close the game and earn a save. (That game, incidentally, was the first game recorded on this blog. You can read the post here.)

Game time is 3:00 p.m. For directions to L.A. Baptist, which is located at 9825 Woodley Avenue in North Hills, go here.

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