Westlake Deep-Sixes Camarillo

THOUSAND OAKS — Westlake High rallied for six runs in the sixth inning Wednesday to upset Camarillo, 10-5, and halt a three-game Marmonte League baseball losing streak.

The Warriors (13-7-1, 6-4-1 in league play) remained in third place and climbed to within 2 1/2 games of league leader Royal, which was upset by Newbury Park.

The second-place Scorpions (19-5-1, 8-2-1) remain half a game behind the Highlanders.

Westlake trailed, 5-4, before its sixth-inning eruption in which five of its runs were unearned.

With Mikey Brin on first and none out in the Warrior sixth, Chris Parker dribbled the ball back to pitcher Shane Miranda. Miranda threw wildly to first base, allowing Parker to reach base and Brin to move to third.

Consecutive singles by David Williamson and Brian Bladen and a groundout by Joey Cuppari combined to bring in the tying and winning runs. Scott Dragicevich hit a sacrifice fly and Ryan Cope capped the inning with a three-run home run.

Camarillo, ranked second in The Times’ regional poll, normally uses plenty of hitting and solid defense to bolster a suspect pitching staff. But the Scorpions had only seven hits and committed four errors.

“We didn’t hit, pitch or play defense, so we lost,” Camarillo Coach Scott Cline said. “It’s kind of a shame we didn’t play anything close to our best baseball. But we’ve won 19 games and not too many teams have done better than that.”

Westlake, which lost to Simi Valley, Channel Islands and Royal in its three previous games, finally pieced together strong offense and defense in the same game. The Warriors had 11 hits and did not commit an error.

“We went out with the right mind-set for once and we took advantage of their mistakes,” Westlake Coach Chuck Berrington said. “If we hadn’t gotten this one we might have still slid into the playoffs, but we want to go in strong.”

Camarillo overcame a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the third before the Warriors scored twice in the third to lead, 4-3.

Camarillo tied the game in the fifth when Jay Caliguiri doubled home Joe Borchard. In the sixth, the Scorpions took a 5-4 lead when Borchard doubled, took third on a groundout and scored on John Medina’s single.

Borchard started and allowed four hits and four runs, none earned, in three innings.

Miranda (6-1) allowed six hits and six runs, one earned, in three innings of relief.

Jeff Robinson (1-0) relieved Warrior starter Jeff Boyle in the sixth and allowed one hit and no runs in two innings. Robinson got some help with two out and two on in the sixth when Cuppari made a diving catch on the uphill slope in right-center field.