Oak Park’s Gibbons Gives Foes Zero Earning Power

For the past month, Jeff Gibbons has been the pitcher who posted the golden goose egg.

Through 36 innings this season, the hard-throwing senior right-hander for Oak Park High has not given up an earned run.

Before he yielded two unearned runs Monday in a 4-2 victory over Capistrano Valley Christian, Gibbons (5-0) also had strung together 33 scoreless innings--dating to the season’s first inning March 10.

Along the way, he has recorded three consecutive and rather impressive shutouts.

In a 9-0 win over Carpinteria, he pitched a two-hitter with seven strikeouts and two walks.

He followed that with a one-hitter with nine strikeouts and no walks in a 4-0 victory over Bishop Diego.

Last week, Gibbons hurled an eight-inning four-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk in a 1-0 Tri-Valley League victory over St. Bonaventure.

Season totals: Ten hits allowed, 55 strikeouts and 14 walks.

Not much to shake a 33-inch aluminum stick at.

“He has great control and he has three pitches he can throw for strikes any time he wants to,� Oak Park Coach Mike Bolyog said. “He has a fastball, curve and slider, and a changeup when he takes it out of the closet.�

Gibbons talks of his accomplishments--which are not limited to the past 36 days--as if he has been locked in a closet.

“I’m really not worrying about any streaks,� he said. “It’s nice and all. But if they score nine runs and we score 10, that’s all I care about. My main objective is to win.�

He has. Honors, mostly. Lots of them.

Gibbons, perhaps the best and most popular athlete at the 430-pupil school in eastern Ventura County, is a three-time, three-sport athlete, earning all-league honors in football, soccer and baseball in eight varsity seasons.

A two-time all-league selection in baseball, Gibbons, last season’s league most valuable player (.339 batting average; 7-1), is a cinch to tie a ribbon around his high school career with his ninth all-league honor.

From there, college baseball enters into the picture. Several California schools have shown interest in Gibbons as a pitcher, including Fresno State, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Fullerton, Pepperdine and Cal Lutheran.

“I love soccer and football, but baseball is probably my best sport,� Gibbons said. “I’ve learned to pitch smart, to get tough mentally and not let other people get to me.�

The only way to get to Gibbons, perhaps, is to get him out of the game some other way.

Last week, Gibbons was ejected in a game against Carpinteria for what the umpire ruled was a deliberate and malicious slide into home plate. On the front end of a double steal, Gibbons (5-foot10, 165 pounds) charged from third base and attempted to kick the ball out of the catcher’s mitt. The umpire ruled that Gibbons’ spikes were too high into the air.

“We couldn’t believe it,� Bolyog said. “(Gibbons) thought the umpire was just double-clutching and saying, ‘You’re out! You’re out!’ He didn’t know that he meant: You’re out! You’re out! ‘ “

The ejection was the first in Gibbons’ career--in any sport. Luckily for Oak Park, it came on a day when he wasn’t pitching. (Gibbons also plays third base and shortstop.)

But the incident left a bad taste in Gibbons’ mouth. He denied that the slide was either malicious or deliberate.

“I can honestly say that that was a terrible call,� Gibbons said. “And that didn’t look good for me. I’m not a troublemaker.�

Not for umpires. Just batters.