Cal State Fullerton

Stephen Williams catches for a California all-star team in a game at Cal-State Fullerton. Jett Bandy of Thousand Oaks High is the batter.

Fall Ball Photos

Matt Cathcart pitches against Oak Park on November 17.

Jacob Perrin throws in relief against Oak Park on October 20.

Meeting on Wednesday

There will be a meeting on Wednesday, November 14, during lunch for all high school students interested in playing on the Malibu High School baseball team next spring. The meeting will be in Room 204.

In Memoriam: David Vigil

[The following announcement was passed on today by Coach Gallo.]

David Vigil, the son of Bert and Nancy Vigil, passed away Monday morning, October 29th, at his home in Agoura. His father, Bert, has been an integral part of preparing and maintaining the fields at Malibu High School for almost ten years.

David was a great athlete; he played baseball and football for the Crespi High School Celts and was part of the 2004 and 2005 CIF championship football teams. He was named special teams player of the year in 2005. David Vigil and his father have also been active supporters of the VIP Baseball Division at Agoura Pony, giving selflessly to bring baseball to all children in our community.

In lieu of flowers, the Vigils are respectfully requesting donations be sent to Agoura Pony Baseball for a scholarship fund. Please make checks payable to Agoura Pony Baseball and put the name "David Vigil" in the memo section of your check. We all appreciate your support during these difficult times.

Agoura Pony Baseball
5699 Kanan Road #227
Agoura Hills, CA 91301

224 Yards

This IS a baseball blog, of course, but Sean Conrad's performance on the gridiron in Malibu High's 21-20 win over Viewpoint last Saturday is worthy of note.

Conrad gained 224 yards on 33 carries.

You can read about it in the Los Angeles Daily News.

Update: AK 23

David Kramer reports that Andrew is settling into the Pathway program at UCLA and has begun meeting players on the UCLA baseball team. He also notes that NBC has scheduled a story on the UCLA Pathway program for tomorrow's NBC Nightly News (October 3, 6:30 p.m.). The story is also supposed to air later at an as yet unspecified date on Today. Andrew was interviewed for the report and may appear in the clip.

The Return of Fall Ball

The Sharks return to the diamond the weekend of September 15-16 playing in the Westhills Baseball high school league. Game schedules are not yet available but should be posted soon on the Westhills Baseball website. Schedules and additional information will also be posted here on Sharks Baseball when available.

UPDATE: Malibu will be fielding two teams--frosh/soph and varsity--and playing in the Agoura High School Fall League rather than the Westhills League. The first game for the varsity team will be on Saturday, September 15, at 3:00 p.m. at Oak Park High against Agoura. Please check back soon for information about workouts.

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.