Dateline Dodger Stadium

The Malibu Times and the Malibu Surfside News both ran stories this week about Stephen Williams and the Dodger Elite weekend. To see the Malibu Times story, go here.

Scenes from the Dodger Elite Weekend

Stephen Williams takes a throw during Friday's Dodger Elite workout at Dodgers Stadium.

BP at the workout on Friday.

Team Crim and Team Stephenson line up for the national anthem before Saturday's game.

Tommy Lasorda addresses the players between games on Saturday.

Williams awaits a pitch during the second inning of Sunday's game.

After reaching on a walk, Williams breaks up a double play in the third inning of Sunday's game.

Lasorda confers with Dodgers scout Artie Harris during Sunday's game.

BP at Dodger Stadium

Stephen Williams and Crespi catcher Jeremy Rodriguez get ready to take batting practice at Dodger Stadium.

Dodger Elite

Senior catcher Stephen Williams will be playing in the Dodger Elite games this weekend at Dodger Stadium. Williams will play on a squad managed by Dodger scout and former major-league pitcher Chuck Crim. The first game in the four-team showcase will be on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Crim's team will play again on Sunday at either 9:00 a.m. or noon depending on the outcome of Saturday's game.

Cal and Tony

On the day after Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn were inducted into the Hall of Fame before a crowd larger than either of them had ever seen in his playing days, it seems like a good time to post a photo from my high school yearbook. Here, from the spring of 1976, is the Aberdeen Eagles varsity baseball team.

Cal is kneeling in the center of the front row (third in from the right). I'm on the far right--in the photo, not in my politics--standing next to Coach Morrison.

If you didn't get to see it on TV yesterday, be sure to read Ripken's speech or watch it here (beginning at about 1:22:00 into the video of the ceremony). As you might expect, Ripken devoted part of his speech to matters of character. Alternatively, for those who just want the highlights, read Thomas Boswell's column in today's Washington Post. Boswell, drawing liberally from Ripken's speech and the examples provided by both Ripken and Gwynn, writes eloquently about baseball and "the chains of habit."

One Last Time

On Saturday at Jackie Robinson Stadium in his last at bat wearing number 23 for Malibu, Andrew Kramer singled to left.

Congratulations, Andrew, on an outstanding career at Malibu High.

Cause and Effect

CAUSE

EFFECT

(Stephen Williams hits his sixth homerun of the American Legion season on Saturday at Jackie Robinson Stadium.)

Brentwood 2, Malibu 1 (Box Score)

Malibu	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	AVE
Biglow EH/CF	3	0	0	0	0	3	.143
Kernodle 2B/SS	3	0	1	0	0	1	.250
Williams C	2	0	0	0	0	1	.167
Weinstock P	3	0	1	1	0	1	.125
J. Conrad 1B	3	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Dispenza CF	2	0	1	0	0	1	.500
S. Conrad RF	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Perrin SS/3B	2	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Schoenbrun LF/1B	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Bordier 3B	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Vititoe EH/2B	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Lamasney-a LF	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Kesselman-b PR	0	1	0	0	0	0	.000

a-replaced Vititoe in the bottom of the 4th
b-pinch ran for Lamasney in the top of the 7th

BATTING

ROE: J. Conrad, Kernodle
HBP: Williams
Team LOB: 5

BASERUNNING

SB: Kernodle (2), Weinstock (2)

DEFENSE

CS: Williams-Vititoe
Pickoff: Weinstock-J. Conrad-Vititoe
E: Bordier (fielding), Kernodle (fielding)

PITCHING	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA
Weintock, L (0-1)	6.0	5	2	2	1	6	2.33

Pitches-strikes: Weinstock, 88-52
Groundouts-flyouts: Weinstock, 4-5
Balk: Weinstock

Schedule Update #2

It's official. As previously noted, four non-league games have been added to the American Legion schedule. Four teams from the San Gabriel Valley will be making the trip to Malibu to play on June 30 and July 14.

The schedule--available here--has been updated to reflect the additional games.

Meanwhile, Malibu takes on Brentwood tomorrow at UCLA and again on Friday at Malibu High. Both games start at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday, Malibu plays Palisades at UCLA at 10:00 a.m.

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.

Malibu 7, Harvard-Westlake 0 (Box Score)

Malibu	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	AVE
Kernodle LF	2	0	0	0	1	1	.000
S. Conrad RF	3	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Williams C	2	1	0	0	1	1	.000
Weinstock EH	2	1	0	0	1	1	.000
Bowman 1B/RF	1	1	1	1	1	0	1.000
Dispenza CF	2	2	1	1	1	1	.500
Perrin 3B/SS	3	1	1	2	0	0	.333
Gwyn SS/2B	2	0	0	1	1	0	.000
Schoenbrun EH/P	1	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Vititoe 2B	2	0	0	0	0	2	.000
Hale-a 1B	2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Biglow-b SS/CF	1	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Bordier-c 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Kesselman-d LF	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Levine-e PH/C	0	1	0	0	0	1	.000
Cathcart-f PH	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Lamasney-e PH/P	0	0	0	1	0	1	.000

a-added to the lineup in the top of the 4th
b-added to the lineup in the top of the 4th
c-added to the lineup in the top of the 4th
d-added to the lineup in the bottom of the 5th
e-batted for Bowman in the bottom of the 6th
f-batted for Schoenbrun in the bottom of the 6th
g-batted for Vititoe in teh bottom of the 6th

BATTING

2B: Perrin (1)
ROE: Perrin, Kernodle
Team LOB: 11

BASERUNNING

SB: Kernodle (1), Williams 2 (2), Weinstock (1), Bowman (1), Dispenza (1), Gwyn (1), Biglow (1)

PITCHING	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA
Cathcart	3.0	0	0	0	0	1	0.00
Schoenbrun, W (1-0)	3.0	1	0	0	1	4	0.00
Lamasney	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

Pitches-strikes: Cathcart, 28-19; Schoenbrun, 41-25; Lamasney, 12-8
Groundouts-flyouts: Cathcart, 4-4; Schoenbrun, 3-2; Lamasney, 0-3
Balk: Schoenbrun

2007 MVPs

At the post-season banquet at Duke's on Wednesday night, Stephen Williams was named the most valuable player of the 2007 Malibu High varsity baseball team and Jesse Conrad was named JV MVP.

Williams led the team in batting average (.411), on-base percentage (.576), slugging percentage (.786), homeruns (5), and RBIs (18). His OPS (combined on-base percentage and slugging percentage) was tops in the Tri Valley League.

Tri Valley All-League Team

Senior Jared Weinstock and junior Stephen Williams were first-team Tri Valley All-League selections for 2007. Sophomore Sean Conrad earned second-team honors and senior Greg Kernodle was honorable mention.

Weinstock batted .344 with 2 homeruns and 15 RBIs. Williams had a .411 batting average with 5 homeruns and 18 RBIs. Conrad led the Sharks in hits (24) and doubles (7) and had a .304 batting average. Kernodle batted .254 with 5 doubles and 4 stolen bases.

Oak Park placed four players on the first team. St. Bonaventure and Oaks Christian had three first-team honorees each.

Junior Casey Serna of St. Bonaventure was named the Tri Valley League MVP.

Tri Valley League All-Academic Team

Nine members of the Malibu High baseball program were named to the 2007 Tri Valley League All-Academic Team. Congratulations to Dalton Abbott, Jesse Conrad, Jace Dispenza, Cody Freeman, Tony Gwyn, Andrew Kramer, Jacob Perrin, Jared Weinstock, and Stephen Williams for combining academic and athletic excellence.

The Sharks placed more players on the All-Academic Team than any other school in the league.

Schedule Update #1

The 2007 American Legion schedule has been updated. Please note the following changes:

• The game scheduled for Saturday, June 9, has been changed from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• A new game has been added on June 20.

• The game originally scheduled for July 2 has been cancelled.

There are three other changes that do not affect the calendar, but in the interest of full disclosure it's worth noting that the opponents have been changed for the games on June 16, June 23 (second game), and July 21 (second game).

RSVP

The Malibu High Baseball banquet is set for Duke's of Malibu on Wednesday, June 6, at 6:30 p.m. The cost will be $25 per person (cash only). If you have not already RSVP'd, please contact Coach Gallo as soon as possible.

Subject to Change

The 2007 American Legion schedule posted below is subject to change. Please check back frequently--but especially after May 30 when District 24 managers meet--to see any changes that have been made.

Please note, too, that inter-district (non-league) doubleheaders will likely be scheduled for Saturday, June 30, and Saturday, July 14.

2007 American Legion Schedule

Date Day Time Visitor Home Location
June 8 Friday 5:00pm Malibu Harvard-WL UCLA
June 9 Saturday 2:00pm SaMo A Malibu Malibu
June 12 Tuesday 5:00pm Malibu Brentwood UCLA
June 15 Friday 5:00pm Malibu Brentwood Malibu
June 16 Saturday 10:00am Palisades B Malibu UCLA
June 20 Wednesday 5:00pm Palisades A Malibu UCLA
June 23 Saturday 10:00am Malibu Beverly Hills Malibu
June 23 Saturday 2:00pm University Malibu Malibu
June 28 Thursday 5:00pm Beverly Hills Malibu UCLA
June 30 Saturday 10:00am Grant Malibu Malibu
June 30 Saturday 1:00pm Knight Malibu Malibu
July 5 Thursday 5:00pm Harvard-WL Malibu UCLA
July 7 Saturday 10:00am Malibu SaMo A SaMo High
July 9 Monday 5:00pm Harvard-WL Malibu UCLA
July 11 Wednesday 5:00pm Brentwood Malibu UCLA
July 13 Friday 5:00pm Malibu Harvard-WL UCLA
July 14 Saturday 10:00am Panorama City Malibu Malibu
July 14 Saturday 1:00pm La Canada Malibu Malibu
July 20 Friday 5:00pm Malibu Palisades A UCLA
July 21 Saturday 10:00am SaMo B Malibu UCLA
July 21 Saturday 2:00pm Malibu SaMoA UCLA

To Saticoy Field

Malibu takes on St. Bonaventure tomorrow in the final game of the 2007 season. To get to Saticoy Field where the Seraphs play their home games, take the 101 Freeway to the Central exit. Go right on Central to Vineyard and turn right. Take Vineyard to Los Angeles Avenue and turn left. (Los Angeles Avenue will become Wells Road.) The field is located near the corner of Wells and Henderson.

For a map, go here.

Senior Day, 2007

The Malibu High baseball program honors its graduating seniors before today's game against St. Bonaventure. Please come early to honor Sloan Campi, Jace Dispenza, Jake Jesson, Andrew Kramer, Greg Kernodle, Wilder Philipson, Jason Walsh, and Jared Weinstock--along with their parents--for all their contributions to Sharks baseball.