The Chancellors kick off the new season by playing host to Fillmore in an Easton tournament game today at 3 p.m.

 

Coach Tom Meusborn begins his 19th season at the helm of the Chancellors with a career record of 462-91-3. Last year's Los Angeles City Section title was the program's sixth under Meusborn and seventh overall.

 

The Chancellors and Fillmore have never played each other in baseball.

 

OUTLOOK: The Chancellors are coming off their seventh City Section title and fifth since 1999, and appeared in the championship game at Dodger Stadium for the fifth consecutive year. They posted their fifth undefeated West Valley League season last year and reached 30 victories for the fifth time in school history.

Senior right-hander James Wharton anchors the staff and is complemented by senior right-handers Trevor Takeyama and Cameron Milstein, junior right-handers Andrew Klausmeier and Ryan Cooperstone, and junior left-hander Michael Renner.

The 6-foot-3 Wharton is coming off an All-City season in which he had a 10-1 record with a 1.61 earned-run average and 57 strikeouts in 61 innings. Takeyama was 4-1 with a 2.53 ERA in 10 appearances, including six starts, and Renner had a 1.08 ERA in six relief appearances and one start.

Klausmeier led the junior varsity with a 9-1 record and 1.64 ERA and Milstein was 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA on the junior varsity. Cooperstone had limited innings on the junior varsity.

Wharton, who patrols first base when not pitching, junior Kasey Toven, who shifts from second base to shortstop, and senior Matt Moreno, who moves from the outfield to second base, figure to lead the attack. Junior catcher Carlos Escobar Jr. is another returning starter who provides a reliable bat.

Toven, a switch-hitter, was ninth on the team in hitting in 2007 with a .313 batting average and Moreno was right behind at .307 and hit three home runs. Wharton had 12 extra-base hits last season and Escobar batted .289 with four home runs and threw out 50% of would-be stealers.

Junior Andy Weissberg, who batted .273 with two home runs, figures to play outfield and third base. Klausmeier, who batted .351 and led the junior varsity with 33 runs batted in, is slated for center field when not on the mound and Cooperstone, a .303 hitter who scored 38 runs for the junior varsity last season, takes over at third base.

Senior outfielder Mark Felshaw had a solid fall-winter season after batting .342 with the junior varsity last year and is in the mix for significant playing time, and junior first baseman Shawn Meusborn, who scored 17 runs for the junior varsity, and senior outfielder Patrick O’Connell, who scored 27 runs for the same team, have a knack for getting on base.

The 2008 Chancellors won’t have the pop of the 2007 squad that produced a school-record 74 home runs, which ranks third all-time in the state for a single season, but they still are a dangerous group of hitters that should complement well the solid pitching staff on another drive toward the goal of winning the West Valley League and City titles.

JUNIOR VARSITY: The Chancellors play at Fillmore today at 3 p.m.