Seibel Leads the Way Again for Cypress

Phillip Seibel, one of the county’s strikeout leaders last season, is picking up where he left off in 1996.

Siebel--who will attend Texas next fall--struck out 13, walked three and gave up six hits to lead Cypress to a 5-2 victory over Katella in the Empire League opener for both teams Tuesday.

In winning his third game without a loss, Seibel, a left-hander, struck out at least two batters in four of his seven innings of work. His biggest trouble came in the fifth when the eighth-ranked Knights (3-3, 0-1) loaded the bases. But Seibel escaped by striking out John Baldridge on a 3-2 pitch, then got opposing starter Keawe Kuehnel to ground out.

“He stays in good shape and he knows how to pitch,” Cypress Coach Mark Steinert said of Seibel. “He’s just a bulldog. You can’t get the ball out of his hand.”

Kuehnel (2-1), who struck out two and walked two, pitched a complete game. But Katella had fielding lapses, none more damaging than the error by shortstop Mike Martinez in the fourth that gave Cypress (4-2, 1-0) two runs and the lead for good.

Centurion catcher Matt Gay led an 11-hit attack with three hits, including a triple, and scored twice.

Katella scored its runs on Kuehnel’s bad-hop RBI single in the first and Matt Jara’s double in the fourth.