RSS Feed
|
The Acorn - Thousand Oaks Acorn Moorpark Acorn - Simi Valley Acorn |
|
|
||||||||||
|
Camarillo baseball squad looking to win a title, too
Although Jaquez was an assistant coach at Camarillo in the late 1990s, he took a head coaching job at Pacifica High for two years before taking the helm at ACHS in 2004. During his first season at Pacifica, Camarillo won the Division I championship game at Dodger Stadium. Jaquez believes this may be his best chance to get the team back to Chavez Ravine. The CIF-Southern Section playoffs began Thursday in the Division II bracket, and Camarillo earned the No. 1 overall seed by going undefeated in the Pacific View League. The Scorpions were 24-2 overall. "Without a doubt, since I have been a head coach this is the best team I've ever had," Jaquez said. "Camarillo has had many great teams in the past, but I think position for position we match up well with all of them."
Camarillo had 11 hitters bat over .300 this year and five hitters that were above the .400 mark. The team's top hitters include Jacob Mahan (.539), Garrett Rau (.521), Anthony Piredo (.455), Brendan Hindle (.406) and Kenny Wise (.400). "Our hitting has been great this year," senior catcher Mike Yingling said. "The whole lineup is stellar. If one guy in the lineup is struggling then we have a bunch more to pick that guy up. And everyone in the lineup is a great clutch hitter." Camarillo entered the playoffs with a red-hot offense. The team won seven straight games, averaging 12 runs per contest during that stretch, highlighted by a 260 win over Channel Islands last month. In 26 games, ACHS has scored less than five runs only four times.
"One thing Garrett will have to continue to do well is constantly throw strikes," Jaquez said. "He has to hit his spots with his curveball a little more from here on out." Rau agreed with his coach. "I need to concentrate on getting ahead of the hitters I face, and the way to do that is just throw strikes," Rau said. Jon Erb is Camarillo's No. 2 man after going 8-0 on the year with a 3.00 ERA. Mike Sliger is a solid No. 3 pitcher who went 6-0 during the regular season. According to Jaquez, he won't hesitate to bring in relievers Justin Bricker and Bryan Wilson. When the regular season ended, Yingling said that Jaquez gathered the team for a talk to prepare them for the postseason. "He sat us down and told us that it's playoff time and this is what we've been waiting for," Yingling said. "I myself have been waiting for this since my freshman year. I think this is our best chance to win it all. Our practices have been a little harder, and I think we need to really stay focused and make sure we don't get bored out there because in the postseason every game is tough." Rau concurred. "Yeah, I think this is our best chance to win it and everyone has this real urge to do it now, not just the seniors but everyone on the team," Rau said. Jaquez said a trip to Dodger Stadium is in the back of his mind, but he tries to not think about it just yet. "That has been the real trick, to not think about it out loud," Jaquez said. "In the past our coaches used to look at possible matches down the road, saying, 'Well, if we win and they win then this might happen.' We try and not do that anymore. We are trying to go out and take everything day by day." Jaquez said he appreciates this year's team even more after being part of a Pacifica team that didn't win any league games one year. "Being on both sides of the spectrum you tend to appreciate the winning more after not winning at all at Pacifica," Jaquez said. "I know some coaches after a while tend to take winning for granted, but not me. Now the winning is that much sweeter." Rio Mesa High also qualified for the playoffs as the PVL's second seed. The Spartans were 1310 during the regular season. |
for larger version       |
|||||||||
)
)
)