Post 383 ends most
successful year ever
By Joe Blenkle/Sports Editor
(This article originally appeared in the Aug. 16, 1995 edition of The Orangevale News)
It was an interesting Legion baseball season to say the least. Fair Oaks Post 383 went further than any other Fair Oaks team ever has this season, capturing second in the District 6 playoffs, first in the Area 1 playoffs, and making a trip to Yountville for the Legion State Playoffs.
Fair Oaks fell in two straight games at the state level, but Lodi and San Juan Capistrano - the two teams to beat Post 383 - went into the final day of the tournament undefeated, with Lodi winning a doubleheader to claim the state crown. Fair Oaks' final mark on the season was 28-11. Five of those losses came in the post-season and another, four came in a stretch when Post 383 was missing a number of its top players back in June.
As for top players, a number of athletes had fantastic seasons this year. Stuart Goodall, the Area 1 MVP, led the pitching staff with a 1.93 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings pitched, compiling a 3-1 record and recording seven saves. Andy Tews. was Past 383's workhorse, pitching 78 1/3 innings with an 8-2 record and a 3.40 ERA. Tews led the team in strikeouts with 75.
Jim Ott (2.77 ERA, 4-1); Garrett Schoenfelder (3.12, 4-4), Jarred Hunt (3.27, 4-1), and Brian Malchow (4.16, 4-2), were Post 383's other top hurlers this season.
Tews was also the team's batting leader with a .398 average, collecting 41 hits (including three HR) and 27 RBI.
Catcher Shawn Lucchesi was tops in RBI with 35, batting .281 for the season, while Ryan Case led the team in home runs (6) and stolen bases (20), despite missing a number of games while on a BCI basketball tour.
As a team, Fair Oaks clubbed 24 homers, eclipsing last year's mark of 12, and batted .307.
Nine players batted over .300 this season, including Trevor Rubly (.500 - batted only four times) Tews (.398), Eric Henrikson (.375), Devon Nicholson (.375 - batted only eight times), Jason Wikerson (.370), Malchow (.333), Matt Praz (.333 - batted only six times), Kevin McKeown (.308), and Reagan Reynolds (.302).
Six players also collected multiple home runs, with Case leading the way with six, Reynolds (4), Tews (3), Wilkerson (3), McKeown (2), and Lucchesi (2).
It could be hard to top this season next year, but Fair Oaks will certainly give it a try.
Virtually the whole team will be eligible to play again next year, with Post 383 losing only Lucchesi, Malchow, Henrikson and pitcher Jarred Hunt due to age restrictions. With a host of new talent coming up through the ranks at both Bella Vista and Casa Roble high schools, there is no telling how far Fair Oaks may go next year.
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