Calabasas Baseball Team Builds Unity in 5-0 Loss

"Two hitters are never fun," Calabasas baseball Ed Edsall said. They are particularly troublesome when your team is on the receiving end of one.

Calabasas was shutout, 5-0, by Hart in a Valley Invitational Baseball League game on Monday. Four Hart pitchers combined to throw a two-hitter, but Edsall said he was encouraged by the camaraderie the players on his team are building.

"It's just good to have the guys back," Edsall said. "The morale picked up. We are like a big family. It was a loss and we only got two hits, but we reunited a little bit."

The players on the team were in good spirits after the game, laughing and teasing each other while they raked and cleaned up the field. Calabasas lost its fifth game in a row, but it doesn't seem to be affecting their attitude toward the game.

Several of the Calabasas players, including Jacob Fields, Josh Ehrlich and Jacob Camhi, have been playing in the Junior Olympics. They were all in the lineup against Hart.

"We hit the ball right to them a lot," Camhi said. "We hit it hard a few times. Today just wasn't a good hitting day."

Camhi and Alex Rubanowitz got the only hits for Calabasas (3-7). Camhi led of the second inning with a single. Rubanowitz reached on a two-out single in the sixth inning.

Hart scored a run in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Baggio Saldivar knocked in Tyler Glasnow with a two-out single.

Hart (8-4) tacked on four more runs in the fifth inning. Tommy Bilbo drove in Saldivar with a two-out single to put Hart up 5-0. Saldivar drove in the first run of the inning when he drew a base-loaded walk to score Glasnow.

"We gave them extra outs and you can't do that in the game of baseball," Rubanowitz said.

Dallas Bacon and Alex Tenorio each had RBI groundouts. Two Hart batters drew walks and another was hit by a pitch in the inning.

"They capitalized on our mistakes," Camhi said.

Meanwhile, the Hart pitchers gave the Calabasas hitters fits. Eric Vogel started the game and pitched two innings. He gave up one hit and struck out two.

Ricky Torres came in to relieve Vogel and pitched two hitless innings. Bobby Stafford followed with two more scoreless innings. He gave up the single to Rubanowitz and struck out one.

Tyler Geissler pitched the seventh inning. He didn't give up a hit, walking one and striking out one.

"It's not a challenge," Camhi said about facing four pitchers in one game. "You just have to adjust, work the count and look for a fastball."

Next up for Calabasas is Valencia on Wednesday.