Thousand Oaks Wins Behind Lee, Long Ball

Right-hander Mike Lee survived five errors by his teammates and pitched Thousand Oaks High to a 5-3 victory over Ocean View in the first round of the Southern Section 5-A Division baseball playoffs Friday at Thousand Oaks. The Lancers snapped the Seahawks’ 13-game winning streak.

Lee (6-0) was all smiles in the dugout early as he watched his high-powered team--which averages eight runs a game--build a 4-0 lead on two-run home runs by Brett Herman and Jeff Naster.

Herman connected in the first after Ryan Kritscher had doubled, and Naster hit his in the second after Cory Bowen had singled. Naster’s shot sent Ocean View starter Seth Bartels to the bench and the four runs proved to be all the offense Lee would need. Thousand Oaks (18-6-1) extended its lead to 5-0 in the third when Brian Sturges doubled home Herman.

Lee’s smile turned to a frown on the mound, however, as the left side of his defense committed five errors in the first four innings. Ocean View (16-8) scored two unearned runs in the fourth to pull within 5-2.

“I just had to throw strikes and try to not let (the errors) bother me,” Lee said. “There was probably some early jitters by the guys, but they made up for it on offense.”

Ocean View threatened with two out in the seventh on two singles, but Lee induced Joe Fraser to hit a soft line out to second baseman Kritscher.