LJ baseball: Versatility

By Ed Piper

We could be in the earlier stages of a mini "Golden Age" of Viking baseball, with last year's edition going to the CIF championship game at USD before losing to Otay Ranch, and this season's squad ensconced in the ninth slot in the San Diego Section, based on a 10.3 strength rating.

La Jolla, showing consistency and plenty of talent on a 13-man squad, sits in a good position in the Western League with a 5-1 record, trailing first-place Madison by two games through the first half of the 12-game schedule.

The strength on a slimmed-down team like this is the combination of skills each player brings: Johnny Agbulos, now batting in the second slot in the order behind Trenton Fudge, patrols right field ably and leads Western League pitchers in ERA with a microscopic 0.66 runs per seven innings.

The diminutive lefty batter, despite throwing right, has 71 at bats, more than any of his teammates, with 11 RBI's, which is great hitting at the top or second in the order.

Junior Nick Ferenczy was the starting pitcher in the Point Loma game at Petco Park, and has played third base and second base in the infield. He's 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA in seven starts.

Stone Scoppettuolo holds down center field when he is not pounding the strike zone from the mound in his pitching appearances. He leads the team in RBI's with 18 while hitting .328 in the third slot. His OPS is out of sight, at 1.056, the only team member over 1.

Utility man Ben Wintringer has played I-don't-know-how-many positions on defense while contributing at the plate and on the basepaths. He's hitting .291 with 11 RBI's. He leads the team with 19 walks. He doesn't strike out much, with only six K's in 77 plate appearances.

The effusive senior has also logged 15 1/3 innings pitching, mostly in relief, and has taken away two wins.

Plus Fudge, leading the team in batting average at .368 as the leadoff hitter, is second only to ace Nick Hammel among pitchers with 32 1/3 innings pitched, with a 3-2 record and 2.38 ERA. Fudge has the most hits on the team with 25.

He and catcher Garrett Brown have both gotten aboard four times being hit by the pitch.

Hammel, the righty, is 6-1 in 10 appearances, half starting and half coming in in relief. He came in midway through the Petco game, settled things down, and took the win after Zach Sehgal's walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh.

Nick's ERA is a good 2.29.

Just about everybody pitches, with Sebastian Partida, Dane Hansen, and even Brown taking turns.

The team batting average is a solid .288. The team ERA, 2.39, is also good.

La Jolla has two games remaining against front-runner Madison, as well as two each against lower-rung Point Loma (1-4 through the first half of the Western League) and Mission Bay (the cellar dweller at 0-7).