Sunday, May 20, 2007
THIS WEEK: The top-seeded Chancellors will start their quest for a fifth consecutive appearance in the City Section title game by playing host to No. 16-seeded Garfield on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The winner will advance to a quarterfinal game Friday against the winner of a first-round game Wednesday between No. 8 Poly and No. 9 El Camino Real.
ABOUT CHATSWORTH: The Chancellors (26-4), seeded No. 1 in the City Section playoffs for the fifth consecutive year, are on a 13-game winning streak and are coming off a 16-3 victory over Cleveland in the West Valley League finale on May 15 … The Chancellors won the WVL title for the fifth year in a row and 26th overall … It was their fifth unbeaten WVL season, with previous undefeated seasons coming in 1988, 2000, 2003 and 2004 … The Chancellors have hit a school-record 66 home runs, including a single-season state-record 22 by senior shortstop Mike Moustakas … Senior right fielder Bobby Coyle has a career-best 12 homers, senior third baseman Matt Dominguez has a career-high 11 and senior center fielder Nick Devian has a career-best seven … It’s the first time the Chancellors have had three batters with double-digit home runs in the same season ... Moustakas also owns the state record for career homers with 50 …. The state record for homers as a team, 75, is shared by Chula Vista Eastlake in 1999 (30 games) and San Diego Rancho Bernardo in 2000 (33 games) ... The Chancellors are averaging 2.2 homers per game and, if they are able to extend their season to 34 games by playing in the City Section title game, they would finish with 74 home runs at that pace … The Chancellors have reached 25 victories for 10 consecutive seasons and 11 times in Coach Tom Meusborn’s 18 seasons at the helm ... They are aiming for the school’s fifth 30-win season and second in a row, all under Meusborn, whose record in the playoffs is 46-12 … From 2000 to the present, the Chancellors have won 21 Championship Division playoff games, more than any other team. El Camino Real and Kennedy are tied for second with 13 apiece.
ABOUT GARFIELD: The Bulldogs are 18-13 overall and finished third in the Eastern League with a 12-6 record ... They have won five games in a row ... They are coached by Ruben Torres.
SERIES VERSUS GARFIELD: The Chancellors and Bulldogs have never played.
COMMON OPPONENTS: The Chancellors and Bulldogs played two common opponents this year — Chaminade and Taft … Chatsworth lost to Chaminade, 5-1, on March 10 and beat Taft, 5-0, March 26 in Woodland Hills; 14-0 on March 28 at Chatsworth and 8-2 on May 3 in Woodland Hills … The Bulldogs lost to Chaminade, 9-5, on March 24 and lost to Taft, 4-2, on April 5.
CITY SECTION PLAYOFF PAIRINGS: (All games Wednesday at 3 p.m. unless noted) Upper half — No. 16 Garfield (18-13, Eastern League No. 3) at No. 1 Chatsworth (26-4, West Valley League No. 1), No. 9 El Camino Real (17-13, West Valley League No. 3) at No. 8 Poly (16-10, Sunset Six No. 1), No. 12 Franklin (14-3, Northern League No. 1) at No. 5 Roosevelt (31-2, Eastern League No. 1), NO. 13 Sylmar (16-10, Valley Mission No. 3) at No. 4 Palisades (21-9, Western League No. 1). Lower half — No. 14 Bell (17-6-1, Eastern League No. 2) at No. 3 Narbonne (18-12, Marine League No. 1), No. 11 Banning (15-16, Marine League No. 3) at No. 6 Cleveland (23-8, West Valley League No. 2), No. 10 San Pedro (16-14, Marine League No. 2) at No. 7 San Fernando (23-9, Valley Mission League No. 2), No. 15 Birmingham (10-13, West Valley League No. 4) at Kennedy (25-6, Valley Mission League No. 2).
CHATSWORTH’S ALL-TIME RESULTS IN PLAYOFFS (championship years in bold): 1963-68 — did not qualify; 1969 — Roosevelt W 10-0, Lincoln L 5-4; 1970-71 — dnq; 1972 — Carson W 10-3, Manual Arts W 7-3, Venice L 2-1; 1973 — dnq; 1974 — Carson L 6-4; 1975-78 — dnq; 1979 — Banning W 3-0, Crenshaw L 11-3; 1980 — dnq; 1981 — Huntington Park W 10-2, Grant W 6-3, Banning L 5-1, Sylmar L 1-0 (third-place game); 1982 — Fremont W 4-1, Franklin W 13-0, Palisades L 9-7, Banning W 5-3 (third-place game); 1983 — Fairfax W 9-0, San Pedro W 7-0, Granada Hills W 7-2, Sylmar W 8-7 (final); 1984 — San Pedro W 19-5, Banning L 3-0; 1985 — Gardena W 4-3, North Hollywood W 4-1, Kennedy L 4-2; 1986 — Sylmar W 8-5, San Fernando L 10-4; 1987 — North Hollywood W 16-5, Kennedy W 5-1, Poly L 6-4; 1988 — Gardena W 28-5, Sylmar W 7-3, San Fernando L 5-2; 1989 — Gardena W 9-1, Grant W 11-6, Palisades L 9-8; 1990 — Carson W 6-1, Palisades W 11-0, Taft W 6-1, El Camino Real W 3-2 (final); 1991 — Carson W 11-0, Poly L 17-1; 1992 — Sylmar W 4-2, Venice W 7-4, Poly L 3-2; 1993 — Venice W 10-0, Sylmar W 4-1, Taft W 17-1, El Camino Real L 7-6 (final); 1994 — Grant W 3-0, Birmingham W 11-10, Taft W 5-0, El Camino Real L 7-6 (9) (final); 1995 — San Pedro W 4-1, Banning L 6-3; 1996 — University W 6-5, Carson W 6-4, Poly L 6-4; 1997 — Reseda W 16-9, Cleveland W 9-5, El Camino Real L 9-6; 1998 — Van Nuys W 8-0, Monroe W 9-7, Kennedy W 5-2, El Camino Real L 5-2 (final); 1999 — San Pedro W 13-1, Roosevelt W 5-4, South Gate W 12-2, Poly W 17-7 (final); 2000 — Grant W 4-2, Kennedy L 11-4; 2001 — University W 4-0, Narbonne W 2-1, Banning W 4-0, Roosevelt W 2-1 (final); 2002 — Kennedy W 2-1, El Camino Real W 13-6, Cleveland L 4-0; 2003 — Fremont W 12-0, Kennedy W 2-0, Banning W 4-3, Carson W 3-0 (final); 2004 — Narbonne W 7-3, Sylmar W 6-4, Kennedy W 10-7, San Pedro W 7-1 (final); 2005 — Fremont W 11-0, Palisades W 5-4, South Gate W 15-5, El Camino Real L 5-1 (final); 2006 — Verdugo Hills W 7-0, Banning W 11-1, San Fernando W 14-0, Kennedy L 4-2 (final).
COACH TOM MEUSBORN: In his 18th season with the Chancellors, his record of 458-91-3 (.834 winning percentage) is the best ever in the state for a coach with 100 victories or more.
HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE: Since 2000, the Chancellors are 117-7 at Chatsworth Ballpark, a .944 winning percentage. They are 11-2 in 2007.
ROAD WARRIORS: Since 2000, the Chancellors are 72-9 away from home, an .889 winning percentage. They are 10-1 in 2007.
JUNIOR VARSITY: The 10th-seeded Chancellors (19-5-1) will take on No. 7 Eagle Rock in a first-round game of the City Section playoffs on Tuesday at Yosemite Park at 2:30 p.m.
In the JV playoffs, each of the eight league champions is seeded Nos. 1-8. Chatsworth finished second in the West Valley League.
File photo: Coach Tom Meusborn, second from left, and the Chancellors will make a run at a fifth consecutive appearance in the City Section title game.
Prints can be purchased through the website