Agoura High Can't Get Even In VIBL Play

After starting the Valley Invitational Baseball League with a 0-7 record, Agoura High won eight of its next 10 games and had a three-game winning streak heading into the regular-season finale against Hart.

But with a chance to end the summer baseball league schedule with a .500 record on Monday, Agoura lost at Newhall Hart, 9-4.

"It was a lack of execution and it hurt us bad," Agoura coach Dennis Reitz said. "Can't afford to have two or three bad innings."

Hart (14-9) scored two runs in the first inning to take a lead. Dallas Bacon capped the inning with an RBI single that scored Baggio Saldivar.

But Agoura (8-10) rallied in the third inning to tie the game 2-2. Drew Lutzke led off the inning with a broken bat, bloop single to right field. Preston Rosemont followed with a single and Mark Seyler walked to load the bases with no outs.

"It was a great boost confidence-wise," Agoura's Tyler Cohen said. "Hart's a good team. Coming back in that inning gave us a little bit of confidence."

Chad Clark drove in the first run on a fielder's choice. Justin Cana hit a sacrifice fly that scored Rosemont.

"I was just trying to hit the ball hard, looking for a pitch I could drive through a hole," Clark said. "It changed the momentum of the dugout, made it a little more rowdy. We did all we could to get in the game."

Hart regained the lead in the bottom of the third, scoring two runs. Steven Rosso knocked in Saldivar with a two-out single to give Hart a 4-2 lead. Hart blew the game open in the fourth with a four-run inning to take an 8-2 lead. Hart loaded the bases and, with two outs, Bacon hit a three-run double. Rosso followed with another double that scored Bacon and gave Hart a six-run lead.

Agoura scratched back in the fifth inning, scoring two runs and cutting Hart's lead in half. Seyler, Clark and Brody Fehmel each singled to load the bases. Tyler Cohen came through with a double that scored Seyler and Clark, but Fehmel was thrown out at the plate.

"The first pitch I whiffed at because I was trying to be aggressive," Cohen said. "The next pitch, he left it up in the zone."

Hart tacked on another run in the seventh inning. Bacon hit a two-out, RBI double that scored Josh Brown.

Seyler was 2 for 2 with two walks and scored a run. Cana was 2 for 3 with an RBI. Cohen was 1 for 3 with a double and drove in two runs.

The Valley Invitational Baseball League playoffs begin on Thursday.