HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TOURNAMENTS : THOUSAND OAKS : Lancers’ Gamble Pays Off With Chance for the Title

Jim Hansen managed by the book Tuesday, but a gamble the day before paved his team’s road to the championship of the Thousand Oaks High tournament.

Hansen, coach at Thousand Oaks, neglected to follow the standard win-one-game-at-a-time theory against Oak Park in the first round Monday. He started sophomore pitcher Dan Chergy, who was moved up from junior varsity for the tournament, and the Lancers defeated the Eagles, 9-6.

Rested and ready, two of the Lancers’ top pitchers--Tom Neumayr and Billy Shoen--then threw complete game victories Tuesday. Neumayr stopped Channel Islands on two hits, 8-1, in a quarterfinal game. With Shoen pitching the semifinal, Thousand Oaks beat Canyon, 8-5.

Shoen struggled early, allowing three runs in the third and two in the fourth, and it didn’t appear that he would go the distance. The Cowboys led after four innings, 5-3, but Shoen bore down and shut them out the rest of the way.

“After the fourth inning, I asked Chris Newman if he could pitch and he said ‘No,’ ” Shoen said. “I knew it was up to me.”

Newman, who injured a thumb Friday, is expected to start today when the Lancers play either Westlake or Dos Pueblos for the championship at 1 p.m. The semifinal Tuesday between Westlake and Dos Pueblos was called in the seventh because of darkness with the score, 5-5. Play will resume today after the 10 a.m. consolation championship.

In Tuesday’s semifinal, it was a lack of fresh pitchers that led to Canyon’s breakdown.

Fred Rivera, who had relieved Charlie Gerard in the third, faded in the fifth when Thousand Oaks scored four runs. Canyon Coach Wally Hammond wanted to make a change, but his bullpen was empty.

Although the Lancers (7-6) had four hits in the inning, Ryan Estes scored the winning run on Kevin Medeiros’ suicide squeeze, one of four sacrifices by Thousand Oaks.

After eight Lancers batted in the fifth, Hammond replaced Rivera with right fielder Ernie Figueroa, who allowed one run in 1 innings.

“We blew a lead because a couple of guys had bad arms,” Hammond said. “This was our first chance to play for the championship. All we have now is third place.”

The Cowboys sent the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning, but Dio Shipp grounded into a game-ending double play.

Canyon faces the loser of the Dos Pueblos-Westlake game at 1 p.m. for third place. Dos Pueblos defeated Lompoc, 6-1, in a quarterfinal.

Diamond Bar, which defeated Calabasas in a quarterfinal, 9-8, plays Channel Islands for fifth place at 10 a.m. Channel Islands advanced by defeating Lompoc, 10-9.