Success Doesn’t Keep Ocean View at Home

They’re the hottest high school baseball team in the Southern Section. They haven’t lost since March 26. They were the co-champions of the Sunset League.

But the Ocean View players will be taking a long bus ride for the first round of the 5-A playoffs. Why?

“Heads.”

That’s what Coach Steve Barrett called in the coin toss to decide the league’s No. 1 representative for the playoffs. He guessed wrong.

So the Seahawks, who finished tied for first with Fountain Valley, will play Friday at Thousand Oaks.

“I guess we’re lucky we’ll be deciding the championship on the field, because I don’t do too well in coin flips,” Barrett said. “But that is the only thing we’ve lost in quite a while.”

The Seahawks (16-7) have won 13 consecutive games since losing to Tustin, 4-3, in the second round of the Upper Deck Tournament.

The streak is the reason Ocean View is included among teams that could win the 5-A title. Besides the four seeded teams--Esperanza, Lakewood, Riverside Poly and Fountain Valley--either St. John Bosco, El Dorado, Simi Valley or Millikan could walk away with the championship.

Or Ocean View.

“The best team doesn’t always win the championship,” El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. “It’ll be the team that plays the best five games and gets the breaks. There are 10 teams that are good enough. Ocean View appears to be the hottest of the group.”

That wasn’t the case a little more than seven weeks ago.

Back then, playoffs and championships--even coin tosses--were the furthest things from Barrett’s mind. He was more concerned with preventing his team’s collapse.

Through 10 games, Ocean View was 3-7, 0-2 in league play. The team wasn’t hitting, it had only one reliable starting pitcher, and every bounce went against them.

The turnaround came quickly. After losing to Tustin in the Upper Deck, Ocean View belted Westlake, 15-5, then rallied to beat Capistrano Valley, 4-2, in its final tournament games.

The Seahawks then won 10 consecutive league games and one nonleague game.

Ocean View had five players hit above .300. Two--designated hitter Rich Crowe and second baseman Joe Fraser--hit more than .400.

Crowe, who had a team-leading .456 average, also had eight home runs and 24 runs batted in. Catcher Kevin Bill hit five home runs and drove in 16 runs.

Better hitting was only part of the solution. The Seahawks’ pitching staff was also solidified by Seth Bartels.

Bartels (5-1), the No. 3 pitcher on the junior varsity last year, moved into the Seahawk rotation after the Upper Deck Tournament. He won all five games in league play, two by shutout.

He teams with Randy Karliner (8-2) to give the Seahawks a formidable starting rotation.

“Before the tournament, we were getting waxed by Santa Ana, 12-4, so we stuck Seth in the game,” Barrett said. “He pitched three scoreless innings, so we decided to give him a start. He just came out of nowhere.”

Much like the Seahawks.

5-A PREVIEW

Defending champion--Marina.

Top teams--Esperanza (23-2), Lakewood (21-5), Riverside Poly (20-4-1), Fountain Valley (22-5).

Dark horse: Katella (15-10).

Key players: Ocean Viejo’s Rich Crowe (designated hitter) is batting .456 with eight home runs and 24 runs batted in; El Dorado’s Tyson DowDell (first baseman/pitcher) is hitting .383 with five home runs and 25 RBIs and is 8-1 with a 1.90 earned-run average; Katella’s Kyle Evans (first baseman) is hitting .462 with four home runs and 23 RBIs; Fountain Valley’s Derek Fahs (pitcher) is 11-3 with a 0.99 ERA and 110 strikeouts; Riverside Poly’s Ryan Graves (pitcher) is 8-2 with a 2.16 ERA; Millikan’s Greg Gregory (pitcher) is 8-0 with a 1.36 ERA; Esperanza’s Jason Hodges (first baseman) hit .453 with four home runs and 32 RBIs; Lakewood’s David Reeser (pitcher/outfielder) is 8-3 with a 1.75 ERA and is batting .360 with 12 RBIs; Fontana’s Armando Sanchez (shortstop) is hitting .506 with eight home runs and 33 RBIs; Beverly Hills’ D.J. Sutton (pitcher) is 9-0 with a 1.78 ERA; Simi Valley’s Brian Vasey (pitcher) is 9-1 with a 2.16 ERA and is hitting .463.

Noteworthy: The No. 1-seeded team has not won the major-division championship since Lakewood in 1970. During that time, only four top-seeded teams reached the final: North Torrance (1971), Lakewood (1972-73) and Esperanza (1987).