BASEBALL BEAT: AGOURA BEGINS TO `PROVE IT' : VICTORY IS INDICATION OF ABILITY.

Byline: Heather Gripp Daily News Staff Writer

Prove it. That's the motto the Agoura High baseball team adopted this week. The Chargers promptly backed up their claims of being a strong club by beating the Marmonte League's top team.

Wednesday's 15-11 victory over Royal was Agoura's first league win and the Highlanders' lone loss of the first half of Marmonte play.

``It's time for us to stop talking and prove it on the field,'' Chargers coach Bruce Beck said. ``We demonstrated that we can play good baseball. It's just getting them to play good baseball.''

For the first time in several games, the Chargers (7-9, 1-5) executed when they needed to. They pulled off hit-and-run plays three times, had three stolen bases and made just one error.

``Those are the things I'm excited about,'' Beck said. ``It started to snowball. We started to do the little things.''

There were also plenty of big things.

Senior outfielder Michael Falco continued his recent power surge by going 3 for 5 with three home runs and seven RBI. His eight home runs in the past six games give him 11 for the season. He entered the week hitting .594 after going 10 for 12 last week.

Nick Hillman also had two home runs in his three-hit, four-RBI performance against Royal.

Royal starter Doug Humphries was chased after 3-1/3 innings. He allowed nine runs on nine hits.

``When we play good teams, we're up,'' Falco said. ``We know Royal is a really tough team.''

Agoura now has four wins in its last five games against Royal; the teams tied once last year.

``I'd like to think it could have happened against any team and it just so happened to be them,'' Beck said.

``Our goal at the beginning of the season was to be 12-3 at the 15-game mark. If we had done that, no one would have questioned our ability to win seven in a row. Why can't we still do it? We're still the same team.''

Before the game, Falco said: ``Maybe we just need one big win and it'll turn things around for us. I hope so.''

Playing for first: Royal's loss dropped the Highlanders (12-3-1, 5-1) into a first-place tie with Thousand Oaks, which had a bye Wednesday. The two meet today at Thousand Oaks.

Royal beat the Lancers (13-4, 5-1) earlier in the season, but the teams have headed in opposite directions since then. As the Highlanders' intensity dropped, Chris Cordeiro and Tracy Goebel helped Thousand Oaks find its groove.

The well-rounded Lancers swept Camarillo in a nonleague doubleheader Tuesday.

Hot hitter: Westlake's Jon Sheppard is hitting more like a cleanup batter than a leadoff man recently.

Shepard had a grand slam, double and a single with seven RBI in Saturday's 15-5 win against Crespi. He also hit a two-run homer during an 8-1 win over Simi Valley on Wednesday. The junior outfielder has five hits in the Warriors' last two games.

Hope for the future: Jared Weaver is giving Simi Valley something to look forward to. The Pioneers (6-12, 1-5) try to stay out of last place when they face Agoura today, but they might not have to be a rebuilding program for long if Weaver maintains the command he's demonstrated early in his varsity career.

The sophomore pitcher is 2-0 since being called up during spring break, accounting for a third of Simi Valley's wins. He appeared in relief in Wednesday's loss to Westlake and retired all six batters he faced.

Scoring machine: Grace Brethren scored 61 runs in two games this week. Chris Beatry and Jeff French both drove in four runs in a 23-0 win against L.A. Lutheran on Tuesday.

?PHOTO: (Ran in Conejo Edition only) Anthony Sanchez, about to be tagged out by Calabasas' Zack Sloane, and his Rio Mesa teammates play at Hueneme today.

Tina Gerson/Daily News

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