Sloppy Moorpark Beats Valley, 11-9

MOORPARK —  By the way Coach Ken Wagner was raking his Moorpark College baseball team over the coals Thursday, most anyone would have guessed the Raiders had lost the game they had just won.

Wagner, although happy with Moorpark’s 11-9 victory over Valley in a Western State Conference interdivisional game, thought the team’s work with the glove left plenty to be desired.

“We had some defensive breakdowns,” Wagner said. “We are making it hard on our pitching staff because of that.”

The Raiders (17-9, 7-5 in conference play) committed five errors, four in the last three innings, that helped Valley (7-16-1, 4-8-1) make a close game out of what should have been a rout.

Moorpark took a 9-1 advantage into the seventh inning behind solid pitching by right-hander Trevor Leppard (2-4) but opened the door for the Monarchs with fielding blunders.

Leppard, a sophomore from Simi Valley High, struggled with his control early in the game but held Valley to one run through six innings. He went to a full count on four of the first eight batters.

He faltered in the seventh, when the Monarchs pulled to within 9-4, and gave way to Keith Loitz after John Shellabarger led off the eighth with a home run and Erik Morante doubled down the right-field line.

“We haven’t scored a lot of runs for him (Leppard) this year,” Wagner said.

The Raiders supported Leppard plentifully against Valley, at least with their bats.

They snapped a 1-1 tie in the fourth on a two-out home run by Jason Adamson off right-hander Jorge Dorado (2-4) and got four more in the fifth. Aaron Whitley started it with a solo home run to center field.

Dorado, Valley’s ace, made it to the sixth inning but was lifted by Coach Chris Johnson after yielding a two-run double to Alex Alvarenga.

Although Dorado wasn’t effective after the first few innings, Johnson still was happy with Valley’s offense. The Monarchs, who have lost six consecutive games, have not scared anyone with the bats lately.

They shook up Moorpark a bit with three runs in the ninth and had the tying run at first with two out before reliever Justin Marine retired Steve Zorn on a fielder’s choice to end the game.

“We have to keep in perspective what’s going on with this team because it’s a young team,” Johnson said.

“As long as we make progress, it’s OK.”