Friday, June 1, 2007
For the fifth year in a row, the Chancellors will vie for the Los Angeles City Section Championship Division title when they take on West Valley League rival Cleveland on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
Chatsworth Athletic Director Mike Immken won the coin flip and the top-seeded Chancellors will play as the home team. Game time is 4 p.m.
ABOUT CHATSWORTH: The Chancellors (29-4), seeded No. 1 in the City Section playoffs for the fifth consecutive year, are on a 16-game winning streak and are coming off an 11-1 victory over No. 4-seeded Palisades in a semifinal game Wednesday … Chatsworth is aiming to tie Fremont for most City titles with seven … The Chancellors have a school-record 74 home runs, one shy of the state record shared by Chula Vista Eastlake in 1999 (30 games) and San Diego Rancho Bernardo in 2000 (33 games) ... The previous Chatsworth record was 49 in 2004 … This is the first time the Chancellors have had three batters with double-digit home runs in the same season ... Senior shortstop Mike Moustakas has 24, a state single-season record; senior right fielder Bobby Coyle has a career-high 14 and senior third baseman Matt Dominguez has a career-best 13 … Leadoff batter Nick Devian, a senior center fielder, has eight, giving the first four batters in the lineup 59 home runs … Coyle, Dominguez and Moustakas are the only three Chancellors to have hit more than 12 home runs in a season (Moustakas hit 14 in 2006) … Moustakas also owns the state record for career homers with 52 ... Other state all-time rankings by Moustakas include runs (third with 170), hits (tied for sixth with Dominguez, 178) and runs batted in (third, 176) … Other state all-time rankings by Dominguez include runs (sixth, 156), hits (tied for sixth with Moustakas, 178), runs batted in (second, 187) and home runs (sixth, 41) … Coyle ranks fourth in school history in home runs (22), fifth in RBIs (100) and sixth in hits (114) ... Moustakas’ .579 batting average is 34 points higher than the Chatsworth season best of .545 set by Willie Cabrera in 2004 … Dominguez is the only player to have hit a home run in two City finals at Dodger Stadium, with one in 2005 and one in 2006 … John Dolak of Palisades hit two home runs, both against Venice in the 3-A title game in 1985 … Another Chatsworth player, left fielder Bryan Petersen, homered in the 2003 title game, making Chatsworth the only school with three home runs in a championship game at Dodger Stadium … Dominguez and Moustakas are playing in their fourth City title game … Senior right-hander Trent Jones is looking to become the second Chatsworth pitcher to finish a season with a 15-0 record (Justin Cassel was 15-0 in 2003) … Jones has a 24-1 career record (two seasons) and could tie Mike Kunes (25-3) for the fourth spot on the Chatsworth list for career victories … Chatsworth batters have been hit by a pitch a school-record 54 times, including seven times by Palisades pitchers in Wednesday's semifinal game ... Junior first baseman-pitcher James Wharton has been bruised the most (15 times) ... The Chancellors have reached at least 28 victories for four seasons in a row and 25 victories for 10 consecutive seasons ... They are aiming for the school’s fifth 30-win season and second in a row, all under Coach Tom Meusborn, whose record in the playoffs is 49-12 in 18 seasons with the Chancellors … From 2000 to the present, the Chancellors have won 24 Championship Division playoff games, more than any other team. Kennedy is second with 15 and El Camino Real is third with 14 ... 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.
ABOUT CLEVELAND: The No. 6-seeded Cavaliers are 26-8 overall and finished second in the West Valley League with an 11-4 record ... They have won three games in a row, including a 12-3 victory over No. 2 Kennedy in the semifinals Wednesday.
SERIES VERSUS CLEVELAND: Since 1980, the Chancellors are 63-16 against the Cavaliers ... The Chancellors beat the Cavaliers, 17-3, on April 13 at Reseda on the strength of eight home runs; 11-10 in eight innings on April 26 at Chatsworth and 16-3 on May 15 at Reseda ... The Chancellors have won 15 games in a row against the Cavaliers, dating to 2002 … Chatsworth and Cleveland have never met in a City final.
COACH TOM MEUSBORN: In his 18th season with the Chancellors, his record of 461-91-3 (.835 winning percentage) is the best ever in the state for a coach with 100 victories or more … Meusborn has won five City titles and is tied for second place with former Granada Hills coach Darryl Stroh on the all-time list behind Les Haserot, who won six with Fremont between 1939 and 1948.
TV: The title game between the Chancellors and Cavaliers will be broadcast on a delayed basis at 9:30 p.m. Saturday by LA36-TV, with Randy Rosenbloom doing the play by play and Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times handling the commentary.
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); 2007 — Garfield W 13-1, El Camino Real W 8-1, Palisades W 11-1.
JUNIOR VARSITY: The Chancellors (22-6-1) lost to Cleveland, 5-1, Thursday in the title game. First baseman Derek Neely had two hits, including a double, and drove in the run, third baseman Angel Calderon had two hits and second baseman Shawn Meusborn had a hit.
File photos (alphabetical order, top to bottom): Matt Dominguez and Mike Moustakas are playing in their fourth City Section title game, and Trent Jones is aiming to finish the season 15-0.
Prints can be purchased through the website