MARAUDERS HOPE ORDEALS LEAD TO CONFERENCE POWER.Byline: Bryan Winchell Special to the Daily News Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. coach Joel Watts understands baseball can be a game of grueling losing streaks where nothing seems to go right. But that doesn't make his team's 1-10 start any easier to swallow. The Marauders, who will begin Foothill Conference play Tuesday at home against Barstow, finished preseason play on a disappointing note Thursday, losing 9-7 to Imperial Valley at Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley . What made the loss hard to take was that the Marauders gained a 5-1 lead through four innings INNINGS, estates. Lands gained from the sea by draining. Cunn. L. Dict. h. t.; Law of Sewers, 31. , only to watch it disappear in the fifth inning in·ning n. 1. a. Baseball One of nine divisions or periods of a regulation game, in which each team has a turn at bat as limited by three outs. b. innings (used with a sing. when starting pitcher Noun 1. starting pitcher - (baseball) a pitcher who starts in a baseball game baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; Josh Seamount seamount Large submarine volcanic mountain rising at least 3,000 ft (1,000 m) above the surrounding seafloor; smaller submarine volcanoes are called sea knolls, and flat-topped seamounts are called guyots. Seamounts are abundant and occur in all major ocean basins. lost his control, walking four men. That led to five runs for Imperial Valley, and the Marauders couldn't bounce back. ``We had 14 hits and seven runs,'' Watts said. ``Ordinarily that should be good enough to win.'' The loss typifies the Marauders' preseason. Watts likes to play a tough nonconference schedule to get the team ready for conference competition, and Antelope Valley paid the price in the win-loss column. The Marauders faced nine teams from the Orange Empire Conference, one of the state's best, and played 11 games in 10 days. ``Our schedule hurt us a bit,'' Watts said. ``By the end of the 11 games, we were playing pretty poorly and were only able to mix in a few practices. Our defense was making mistakes, and we needed to swing the bat with a lot more purpose at the plate.'' While the Marauders certainly hit well Thursday, they still committed three errors, and the team's strength, its starting pitching, didn't hold up. For Antelope Valley to turn things around in conference play, Watts believes the starting pitching needs to hold the opposition to three or four runs per game. Their only win, in fact, was a 4-3 victory over Pasadena City College. While the schedule has been tough on the Marauders, so has the loss of six would-be returning sophomores to academic ineligibility INELIGIBILITY. The incapacity to be lawfully elected. 2. This incapacity arises from various, causes, and a person may be incapable of being elected to one office who may, be elected to another; the incapacity may also be perpetual or temporary. . Five of those players were pitchers, leaving the bullpen especially thin, and the other was last year's starting shortstop. Because Antelope Valley College doesn't have as many high schools to draw from as more powerful Orange County schools, starting a season with 17 freshmen on a 21-man team is a difficult setback to overcome. ``We started from fall baseball class with about 35-40 players,'' Watts said. ``The coach at Cypress said he typically starts with 150-200 people.'' Watts doesn't fool himself into expecting the Marauders to win most of their nonconference games. But he does expect one thing: improvement. While there has been some, Watts is looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. more in the conference season. ``I was disappointed because we blew a pretty good lead,'' Watts said about the game Thursday. ``We should (have found) a way to win that game, but we did some good things. I was talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to the players after the game, and I was saying it was strange, we didn't play badly but we still lost. It's been that kind of season.'' Watts is hoping that will end Tuesday when freshman Dan O'Gara (from Paraclete High) takes the mound against Barstow. O'Gara, a right-hander, has been clocked consistently in the mid-to-upper 80s and has a good curveball. ``He's been our one ace,'' Watts said. O'Gara joins Seamount and left-hander Azaham Rodarte (Winters High) as the starting pitchers. Infield players are freshmen Eric Torrez (Highland High) as catcher, Charlie Booterbaugh (Palmdale) at first base, Adam Boudreau (Quartz Hill) at second base and Bobby Parks Bobby Ray Parks is an American professional basketball player.He is from Grand Junction,TN. He is a college standout for the then-Memphis State University during the 1980's but never played in the NBA. (Palmdale), shortstop, along with returning starter David Nichols at third base. Newcomers Anthony Barton (Antelope Valley) and Vinny Pagan (Paraclete) join returning starting center fielder Tim Guzman in the outfield. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Antelope Valley College catcher Eric Torrez grabs a pop fly in a game with Imperial Valley College History The Imperial Valley College had its beginning on May 9, 1922 with the name of Central Junior College, opening in September that year. Originally at Central Union High School, 2 years later a new college named Brawley Junior College was opened. . Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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