La Jolla, at 7-2, stands atop the City League standings as of this writing (May 4), with three games to play against second-place Lincoln next week.
The Vikings, led by the batting exploits of Ryan Khourajian (.438) and Charlie Martin (.412) and the stellar pitching of starter Charlie Smith (6-2, 2.20 ERA), have a temporary four-game lead (not counting a tie) on the Hornets, who stand at 3-2-1 in league play.
Coach Gary Frank's 2026 edition plays Lincoln in a best-of-three regular-season series May 11-15.
Says Frank: "We have not clinched anything."
If Lincoln wins all three of their games this week, putting them at 6-2-1 after Fri., May 8, "Whoever wins two out of three in that series will win the league."
The D3 rankings on MaxPreps show La Jolla at ninth, 13-12 on the season, and the Hornets sixth, 15-5-1. But the Vikes have a much better Strength of Schedule rating, 3.86 to 0.22 for Lincoln, meaning the coastal city has played much better teams throughout the duration of the season.
What's more appealing is looking at how well the Viking players have performed in league: Besides Khourajian, joining the team at midseason, and Martin, the squad is batting .329 as a team. Charlie Martin is ripping the cover off the ball, with 14 hits in 26 at bats, with 10 RBI's.
Khourajian is 12 for 27, and has four doubles. Carter Strauss, the catcher and leadoff hitter, has gone pretty elevated at a .385 clip (10 for 26).
Reed Turner, always dependable, is carrying a healthy .320 average in the City League, leading the team with 11 runs scored.
The other Charlie, Smith, has gone 3-0 in City play, with three complete games. He has given up only one run, it being earned, in 21 innings--definitely Pitcher of the Year status for only a sophomore. You can't do any better than that.
No comments:
Post a Comment