Cordeiro Has Last Laugh in Rough Outing

Junior Chris Cordeiro’s fine pitching is quickly becoming common knowledge.

On Tuesday, he showed he has plenty of heart to complement his skills.

Cordeiro, a 6-foot-3 right-hander with a lively fastball and an exceptional curveball, worked out of early trouble to help Thousand Oaks High defeat Moorpark, 6-5, in a Marmonte League game at Thousand Oaks.

Moorpark (6-4, 2-1 in league play) took a 5-0 lead against Cordeiro (2-0) after 3 1/2 innings, but couldn’t generate much offense after the fourth.

Thousand Oaks (6-3, 3-1) used seven hits in the fourth against left-hander Justin Thomas (2-1) to pull to within 5-4. Ryan Donahue drove in two runs with a single to right field and Ryan Fitzgerald squeezed home a run.

The Lancers scored twice to take a 6-5 lead in the fifth on a leadoff home run to left field by John Smith and a two-out single to left by Donahue against reliever Wes Rasmussen.

Rasmussen staked Moorpark to a 3-0 lead with a two-run home run to center field against Cordeiro in the third. Designated hitter Chris Stoddard homered to right in the fourth and Brendan Weak scored on Kevin Connelly’s ground out.

The Musketeers put runners at second and third on Matt Norris’ two-out double in the seventh, but Cordeiro retired Justin Tolliver on a fly out to left.

“He wanted to go back out [in the seventh] with a one-run lead,” Coach Bill Sizemore of Thousand Oaks said of Cordeiro, who allowed nine hits and struck out six. “That showed his makeup.”