Oaks Defeat Santa Maria, Cap Off 4–1 Week

Oaks Defeat Santa Maria, Cap Off 4–1 Week

By Micah Rodriguez

The Conejo Oaks emerged victorious over the Santa Maria Indians, 10–2, in a Sunday afternoon matchup at Pirate Park. After a disappointing 1–4 week three, the Oaks capped off a 4–1 bounce-back week. 

On the mound, right-hander Johnny Levelis was lights out. Already familiar with Pirate Park thanks to his time at Ventura College, Levelis worked a perfect three innings and struck out five. 

"He was in the strikezone and forcing weak contact," Head Coach David Soliz said regarding Levelis's clean outing. "Obviously, a lot of strikeouts in a limited time to work."

The Oaks jumped out to a quick 3–0 lead after one inning. Center fielder Owen Meli led off with a single up the middle and scored on a fielding error to give the Oaks a 1–0 lead. Left fielder Dylan Jackson singled, and clean-up man Tyson Reis followed with a single of his own to score outfielder Tyler Antwine. Caden Stillwell, in his first game of the season managing the staff behind the plate, reached on a fielder's choice to score another as the Oaks took a 3–1 lead. 

Landon Martin entered in relief of Levelis in the fourth inning. The right-hander worked around four walks to deliver two scoreless frames. 

With the game still holding steady at 3–0, the Oaks put up seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded and nobody out, second baseman Grant Rodriguez reached on a fielder's choice to plate another run. Hitting in the nine-hole, shortstop Zach Nagy lined an RBI single to left field to score another and make it a 5–0 game.

Meli walked to load the bases, and Antwine delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to push the lead to six. Jackson was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Reis. The left-hander, who finished the week 8-17 with nine RBIs, ripped a bases-clearing double in the left-center gap to blow the game open and put the Oaks ahead 9–0. 

Reis, who began the season 0-15, has turned a corner recently in the box.

"I've seen him relaxing and getting into better counts," Soliz remarked on Reis's turnaround. "He [wasn't] getting caught up in the results roller coaster."

Third baseman Matthew Witkow put the finishing touches on the inning with a ground ball single through the left side to score Reis as the score ballooned to 10–0. 

Right-handers Caden Sramek and Matthew Sanders both went two innings to close out the game. Sramek battled around four walks, allowing one earned run. Sanders allowed two hits and one earned run with one strikeout. 

Meli, Nagy, Witkow, and Reis record multi-hit games in the win. 

With the 10–2 win, the Oaks move to 10–7 as we approach the halfway point of the summer. The Oaks are back in action Tuesday at Pirate Park against the Philippines Baseball Group. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.