More Evidence . . .

. . . that Malibu got a bad break in the first-round playoff seedings: Ryan Tucker of Temple City was the 34th pick in the Major League Baseball draft today. He was the sixteenth pitcher selected, the fifth high school pitcher, and the first high school pitcher from Southern California.

American Legion Season Opener

Malibu opens the American Legion season tonight with a 5:00 game at UCLA against Palisades.

UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium is located near the intersection of Bonsall Avenue and Pershing Drive on the grounds of the Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center. (Click here for a map.)

Pepperdine Update

For the second consecutive year, the Pepperdine Waves made it to the championship game of the NCAA Regional only to fall short. Last night, USC defeated Pepperdine, 5-2, to advance to the Super Regional next weekend against Oregon State in Corvallis.

Pepperdine's loss came just one day after one of the most memorable days in Pepperdine's baseball history (at least since the 1992 College World Series title) when, facing elimination after an opening-round loss on Friday, the Waves defeated both Long Beach State and USC to earn the right to play in Monday night's championship game.

Five Sharks players were in attendance at the game last night at Blair Field in Long Beach: Colbie Bell, Wesley Semkin, Jacob Perrin, Stephen Williams, and Daniel Williams.

CIF Division V Champions

Serrano defeated St. Paul, 5-3, to win the CIF Division V Championship yesterday in a game played at UC Riverside. The Serrano Diamondbacks, winners of the Mojave River League, finished the season with a 21-1-1 record. Their only loss came on April 5 in a league game against Apple Valley. The St. Paul Swordsmen, ranked first in the Division V coaches' poll for much of the season, finished the year 26-7-1. Five of St. Paul's seven losses came against larger schools including Simi Valley, Oxnard, Mater Dei, and Gahr.

Malibu Little League Champions

Congratulations to the Malibu Little League Dodgers on winning the Majors Division with a 2-1 victory over the Giants earlier today. Michael Ciniglio pitched a complete game and hit a homerun for the Dodgers.

NCAA Regionals Down the Road

Pepperdine plays USC in the first round of the NCAA Regional at Long Beach State tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year Paul Coleman will start for the Waves. The Trojans are expected to start PAC-10 Pitcher of the Year Ian Kennedy.

Kennedy earned a save against Malibu in a second-round CIF playoff game two years ago when Jamie van Soelen, then a sophomore, held the La Quinta Aztecs to two earned runs in a game that the Sharks ultimately lost 3-0.

In two seasons with USC, Kennedy has compiled a K/IP ratio higher than former USC standouts Mark Prior and Randy Johnson.

Bogart on Baseball

A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz.

-- Humphrey Bogart

More on the Alumni

Luke Beck and Jaime Ballesteros have both garnered post-season honors from the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association. Beck was named a Southern California All-American and Ballesteros was named to the All-Southern California Team. The complete list of those honored is available here (.pdf file). Beck and Ballesteros are both expecting to play for Cal State Northridge next year.

After hitting .351 with 20 stolen bases for the Clinton LumberKings, Cameron Coughlan was promoted to the AA Frisco Roughriders, a Texas Rangers farm club in the Texas League. Thus far he's 4-for-12 with two RBIs in five games with the RoughRiders. Coughlan played left field yesterday behind Steve Karsay who started the season with the New York Yankees.

Congratulations to each of these players. (And thanks to Coach Gallo for the tip.)

Semifinals Finals

In the semifinal round of the CIF Division V playoffs, St. Paul defeated Oaks Christian, 15-10, and Serrano defeated St. Bonaventure, 3-2. St. Paul and Serrano will play for the championship on Thursday at UC-Riverside at 7:30 p.m.

The Revised Schedule

The American Legion Schedule posted below is the revised version. If there are further updates, you can be assured that I'll have them posted here quicker than you can open the attachment from Coach Buss.

2005 American Legion Schedule

Date	Day	Time	Visitor	Home	Location
June 7	Tuesday	5:00pm	Malibu	Palisades	UCLA
June 10	Friday	5:00pm	Fairfax	Malibu	UCLA
June 11	Saturday	11:00am	SaMo A	Malibu	Malibu
June 13	Monday	5:00pm	Malibu	SaMo B	UCLA
June 18	Saturday	2:00pm	Lawndale	Malibu	UCLA
June 20	Monday	5:00pm	Malibu	Palisades	Malibu
June 21	Tuesday	5:00pm	Malibu	Hollywood	UCLA
June 25	Saturday	10:00am	Malibu	University	UCLA
June 28	Tuesday	2:00pm	Brentwood	Malibu	UCLA
July 1	Friday	2:00pm	Malibu	Fairfax	UCLA
July 2	Saturday	11:00am	Malibu	SaMo A	Malibu
July 2	Saturday	2:00pm	SaMo B	Malibu	Malibu
July 8	Friday	5:00pm	Malibu	Lawndale	UCLA
July 9	Saturday	2:00pm	Palisades	Malibu	UCLA
July 11	Monday	11:00am	University	Malibu	Malibu
July 12	Tuesday	5:00pm	Hollywood	Malibu	UCLA
July 16	Saturday	2:00pm	Malibu	Brentwood	UCLA

CIF Semifinals Updates

At Oaks Christian, St. Paul and Oaks Christian are tied, 3-3, in the top of the fourth inning. Serrano leads St. Bonaventure, 3-1, in the other semifinal game being played today. Final scores will be posted here when both games have been completed.

Blogger at Work

No one asked, but I've decided to do the blogging equivalent of standing up and taking a bow. (Actually, it's more like keeping my seat and giving a little wave.) Here I am, doing what I do at games: keeping score and getting as close to the action as I can. (Thanks to Art Hale for the photo taken at the Oaks Christian game on May 10.)

Third Round Update

Oaks Christian, which finished third in the Frontier League with a 6-6 record, defeated Woodcrest Christian today, 3-2, to advance to the semifinals of the CIF Division V playoffs. The Lions will face St. Paul, which defeated Temple City this afternoon by a score of 6-1.

In today's other games, Serrano defeated Cathedral, 3-1, and St. Bonaventure downed Calvary Chapel, 3-2.

Semifinal games will be played on Tuesday.

Another Take on Friday's Game

The Malibu Times has come through once again with great coverage of Sharks Baseball. Kevin Connelly's story about Friday's game against Temple City is in today's paper and is available on-line here.

I think I can speak for all of the Sharks fans in thanking Kevin and the Malibu Times for bringing some attention to the Sharks this season.

Second-Round CIF Playoff Scores

Yesterday, in the second round of the CIF Division V Playoffs, Temple City knocked out Oak Park while Oaks Christian advanced with a victory over Fillmore. Here is a complete list of yesterday's Division V scores:

St. Paul 20, Ontario Christian 3
Temple City 9, Oak Park 3
Woodcrest Christian 3, Monrovia 2
Oaks Christian 9, Fillmore 2
Serrano 11, Valley Christian 1
Cathedral 6, La Canada 3
Calvary Chapel 5, Paraclete 4 (9 innings)
St. Bonaventure 13, Santa Paula 2

Catching Up

The long-awaited recap of last Friday's playoff game against Temple City has finally been posted here. (In order to preserve the chronological order of the blog, I placed the post back in time a few days.)

Killer B's

Former Malibu stars Jaime Ballesteros and Luke Beck are having standout seasons at the junior college level. Ballesteros finished the regular season with a .403 batting average (tied for 24th in the state among junior college players) for Compton College. He also had five homeruns and 33 RBIs.

Beck, named Co-Player of the Year in the Orange Empire Conference, hit .373 with five homeruns and 34 RBIs for Orange Coast College during the regular season. A starter in the outfield all season, Beck has also been a very effective closer for the Pirates. Through May 22 (including playoff games), he has compiled a 2-1 won-loss record with nine saves in 16 appearances. Opponents are hitting just .176 against him.

Beck will be playing with Orange Coast College for the state title next weekend (May 28-30) in Fresno.

Sharks in Tuxes

As promised, here are some photos of some of the Sharks at the prom. (To those of you seeing this who aren't related to him, I apologize for the fact that Daniel is in every one of the photos. Blame it on favoritism if you must, but the fact is that neither Daniel nor his date took any pictures that didn't have him in them and he was standing so close to the other person in each picture that I was unable to crop him out.)

Brett Weinstock and DWil

DWil and Jason Puklus

Jamie Van Soelen and DWil

What Are Your Thoughts?

One of the conventions of the blogosphere is what is called the "open thread" in which the blogger (that's me) writes a post specifically inviting readers to comment on a particular topic. I'd like to try it and offer you the opportunity to share your thoughts about the 2005 season.

If you haven't posted a comment before, it's simple. Click on "Comments" at the end of this post. You'll see the comments that have already been left (if you're not the first). At the end of the comments, click on "Post a Comment." You'll be taken to a page where you can write a comment, preview it, and then post it either anonymously or by your Blogger account (if you have one or choose to create one). If you write something and wish you hadn't said what you said, you can remove the comment. If you write something and I wish you hadn't said what you said, I can remove the comment.

So, how about those Sharks?