HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Chatsworth Again on Wrong Side of Fence

Chatsworth High Coach Tom Meusborn walked onto the baseball field last week for practice and saw that construction workers had torn down his right-field fence to make repairs.

“As of last Thursday there was no fence there at all,” he said. “Nobody told me anything about it.”

No fence was in place during last week’s home game against Cleveland, but it was erected in time for Tuesday’s home game against Taft.

“He was very apologetic,” Cleveland assistant Marty Siegel said of Meusborn. “He was mystified about the whole thing.”

The fact that the work was done in midseason should surprise no one familiar with the Chatsworth program.

In 1989, the school installed a second, taller fence in left field to protect from home-run balls the apartments that sit across the street. Much of the work was done while the season was in progress.

“It was unbelievable,” said then-Coach Bob Lofrano, now a co-coach at Pierce College. “I came out one day and there were five telephone poles lying in left field. I thought I was in Washington--it looked like somebody was going to do a log roll.”

As it turned out, the poles were the wrong size. They were removed and the majority of the work was completed later, during spring break. Chatsworth did not have to reschedule any home games.

“Logic finally prevailed,” Lofrano said. “Which is unusual in the (L.A. Unified School) District.”

Last season at Chatsworth, workers digging in right field over the winter accidentally ripped out the wiring for the electronic scoreboard. The scoreboard was inoperable for much of the season.

The good news is that Chatsworth’s long-standing bid to upgrade its antiquated public-address system has been approved.

Of course, the equipment arrived only this month.

An honored name: The medalist in last week’s Oak Park-Moorpark golf match was a player from Oak Park who shot 70 at the par-67 Westlake Golf Course.

His name: Tom Watson.

Under the limit: Siegel, the Cleveland assistant, knows his numbers. He just didn’t understand the rule.

And he probably isn’t alone.

Last week, Siegel checked some line scores and did some quick addition.

According to Siegel’s count, Chatsworth right-hander Anthony Moreno had pitched in 12 innings over three games last week.

After Moreno tossed the first pitch of the seventh inning in Thursday’s loss to Chatsworth, Siegel lodged a protest with the umpires. Siegel said Meusborn immediately began scanning the team score book and removed Moreno with nobody on and two out in the inning.

Siegel later called City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness, only to learn that the 10-inning rule--as it is most commonly termed by coaches--is, in actuality, a 30-out rule.

Harkness said that the rule, designed to protect against arm injury by limiting pitchers to 30 outs over a seven-day period, was implemented statewide last year.

“It was never a 10-inning rule,” Harkness said. “The 10-inning rule was one of the proposals, but it was never adopted.”

Siegel, however, says that the rule is flawed because its protection is limited.

“A kid can throw 40 pitches in an inning and not record an out, but that doesn’t count,” Siegel said.

Moreno pitched in Monday’s game against Kennedy but did not record an out. He then pitched in two games against Cleveland and recorded 28 outs for the week.

Add Chatsworth: Right-hander Brandon Nickens’ reputation preceded him. And then, just like that, it up and left him.

Nickens, who has issued a staff-low 18 walks in 35 1/3 innings, was not exactly known for his control in his youth-baseball days.

“Most people who remember me ask me now if I’m still known as the ‘Wild Thing,’ ” Nickens said.

Meusborn recalls hearing, well, wild tales about Nickens.

“I heard all these stories,” Meusborn said. “That he was wild, that he was a mess on the mound, that he got frustrated easy. But he’s been the most consistent pitcher we’ve had.”

Nickens, a junior, improved to 3-2 and lowered his earned-run average to 1.78 with a 13-0 shutout of Taft on Tuesday. He struck out five and walked one.

While Nickens’ walks-to-innings-pitched ratio might not seem overwhelming, it is by comparison.

Fellow Chatsworth pitchers Anthony Moreno, Mitch Root and Doug Dean have walked 62 batters in 81 innings.

Home-field disadvantage: Eighteen of Paraclete’s 102 hits are extra-base hits, but the Spirits’ only home run came in the first game of the season at Whitney.

Paraclete co-Coach Andy Gavel doesn’t expect many more.

Paraclete hit only two home runs last season, both on the road, and Gavel can’t recall when the Spirits have hit the longball on their home field at Rawley Duntley Park in Quartz Hill.

The field measures 340 feet down the lines and extends to 390 in right-center field.

“The wind blows straight in and nobody hits them out of there,” Gavel said. “You have to hit a ton and it’s like trying to hit it out of Dodger Stadium. We ingrain it into the kids to hit line drives and into gaps.”

There are other considerations. The field recently was re-sodded.

“There are seams and it’s like Astroturf when a ball all of a sudden bounces over the shortstop’s head,” Gavel said. “It’s funny watching other teams trying to play in the outfield. It’s funny watching our team play when we haven’t had enough time to practice on it. It’s a thrill a minute.”

A snake appeared on the infield, causing a delay during a game last week.

“It was just a garter snake, but I told the umpire he couldn’t hurt it because wildlife is protected in the high desert,” Gavel said. “We had to stop the game and throw it over the fence.”

Staff writers Steve Elling and Kirby Lee contributed to this notebook.