Malibu 7, Harvard-Westlake 0 (Game Summary)

Matt Cathcart, Nate Schoenbrun, and Keith Lamasney combined to shut out Harvard-Westlake on one hit as Malibu won its American Legion opener, 7-0, in a game played at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Malibu managed only three hits in the game, but capitalized on twelve walks and three errors by Harvard-Westlake to put up more than enough runs in support of the three pitchers. After Greg Kernodle, Sean Conrad, and Stephen Williams struck out in the bottom of the first, Jared Weinstock led off the second inning with a walk. Matt Bowman hit the first pitch into left field for a base hit. Jace Dispenza followed with a walk to load the bases. Jacob Perrin fouled out for the first out of the inning. With Tony Gwyn at the plate, Weinstock turned an attempted pickoff into a steal of home for Malibu’s first run of the game.

Malibu added two more runs in the fourth inning. Bowman drew a one-out walk and stole second base. Dispenza reached first and Bowman moved to third on a passed ball on a third strike. After Dispenza stole second on the first pitch to Perrin, Bowman scored and Perrin reached first safely on a throwing error by the Harvard-Westlake shortstop. Dispenza then scored to make the score 3-0 as Gwyn reached on a fielder’s choice.

Meanwhile, Cathcart, Schoenbrun, and Lamasney moved through the Harvard-Westlake lineup with ease. Cathcart allowed one runner—a hit batter in the top of the first—to reach over the course of the first three innings. Schoenbrun gave up a walk in the fifth inning and a leadoff single in the sixth while striking out four over the course of his three innings. Lamasney closed the game with a perfect seventh inning.

Malibu’s big inning offensively came in the bottom of the sixth with a four-run outburst. Williams led off with a walk and promptly stole both second and third. With Bowman at the plate after Weinstock struck out, Williams scored on a wild pitch. Bowman walked and, after moving to second on another wild pitch, scored when Dispenza’s base hit down the rightfield line skidded away from the outfielder leaving Dispenza on third base with one out. Perrin drove in Dispenza with a double down the leftfield line. Gwyn and Cathcart walked to load the bases and Perrin scored the final run of the game when Lamasney walked.

In part, Malibu compensated for light hitting with aggressive baserunning. The Sharks stole eight bases in eight attempts.

Next up for Malibu is a home game against Santa Monica at 2:00 p.m.