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Extra-strength win for Oxnard
It hit 100 in Oxnard on Friday.
And we're not talking about the temperature at Oxnard High's Killingsworth Field, where it was warm with a light breeze.
With two doubles and Austin Davidson's third home run of the season, the Oxnard baseball team increased its season total of extra-base hits to an even 100.
Mikel Beltran won his 10th consecutive game as Oxnard (20-5-1) opened the CIF-Southern Section Division II playoffs with an 8-1 win over Foothill (18-10).
This was a rematch of a 2006 second-round playoff game between the two teams won by Foothill.
Blake Adame had an RBI double — tying Kevin Newburg for the team lead — and Juan Reveles doubled and scored twice for Oxnard, which has won six consecutive games overall and 13 straight at home.
The Pacific View League champion Yellowjackets have 75 doubles, one triple and 24 home runs.
"We have a big field and we use it to our advantage," said Adame. "Everyone is pretty good about hitting the ball into the gaps."
As usual, it wasn't just Oxnard's bats that created scoring opportunities.
Full steam ahead, Oxnard looked one or more bases ahead.
After his fourth-inning grounder hit off the body of Foothill pitcher Casey Rowe, Adame raced to third on an errant throw to first.
"As soon as I was halfway to second," said Adame, "I was hustling for third. I'd rather take a risk that to take just one base."
In the sixth, Newburg went from first to third on a passed ball.
"How often do you see that happen?" asked Oxnard coach Al Tarazon. "That is something that we work on in practice. When we're practicing, we're telling kids to go for the extra base and let's see what happens. No matter what happens, you can always hustle."
Oxnard's willingness to attack on the base paths may have contributed to Foothill making four errors that contributed to five unearned runs.
Derek Shutt was 2 for 4 and had an RBI single for Oxnard in a three-run third inning. The Yellowjackets, who reached the 20-game win total for the fourth time in the last five years, added three more runs in the sixth, two courtesy of an infield error.
Only a sophomore, Beltran allowed six hits, struck out six and escaped two bases-loaded jams. A double play started by Shutt, Oxnard's first baseman, ended Foothill's threat in the second. With one out and the bases full in the sixth, Beltran struck out designated hitter Tyler Sumbrock and induced Brandon Dupree to hit into a inning-ending ground out.




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