I get a "dead head" from being in the sun, the deadheadedness varying depending on how much sun I take in.
So I have an excuse when I come home, even after the thrill of two Double Doubles from In-N-Out in celebration of spring and the Vikings' win in the bottom of the seventh inning Wed., April 1, to put them in the championship round of the Lions Baseball Tournament, and feel a bit tired.
But I still had the energy to think about La Jolla's pitching rotation. Why was number-two hurler Weston Clark, a lefty, not slotted in for the second game of the tournament Tues., March 31, since Timmy Holdgrafer, the number-one, went on Monday?
You might think that the Vikings' top two--and regular--starters would pitch back-to-back in the initial games in tournament pool play, thus increasing LJHS's odds of winning and going into the third and final pool play game Wednesday having used their two aces.
But, no, lo and behold, after Holdgrafer two-hit Mission Hills on Monday for a 5-0 win at Country Day, there was Luke Bucon, able but not Weston Clark, starting on the mound Tuesday versus Birmingham (Van Nuys) in game two of the tournament.
It got a little nervous after Bucon, in the bottom of the first inning, yielded two runs to the visiting Patriots, putting La Jolla down early, 2-1. There was tension in the dugout.
But it wasn't April Fools a day early.
I asked La Jolla coach Gary Frank on Wednesday before game three about it. He said he wanted to keep Clark on his regular pitching day, Wednesday. It also maintained the rotation for next week, in which the Vikings travel to Cathedral Catholic on Mon., April 6, and face St. Augustine at home Wed., April 8. These games constitute the second part of the City Conference Tournament, which takes play in broken-up pieces over a period of three or so weeks.
The tension dissipated Tuesday after the Vikings came from being down 2-1 to leading 6-3, then whomping the Patriots by a final score of 10-4.
So, mystery solved.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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