Royal baseball team remains perfect
Highlanders now 10-0

Early in the season, Royal High head baseball coach Dan Maye said his team was probably a year away from being the best they could be. Game after game, the team is making that statement seem impossible.

After 10 games, the Highlanders are still unbeaten at 10-0 and are 3-0 in Marmonte League play.

After impressive wins against Calabasas and on the road at Moorpark on Wednesday, the Highlanders will face an early-season showdown today vs. Thousand Oaks. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.

"I still think that we are a year away from having our best team, but we are exceeding expectations by being 10-0," Maye said. "I didn't expect this fast of a start, but we played some good teams over the summer, and the team has started to believe it can be just as good as anyone.

"Over the summer I had a tough workout schedule by having the players run as much as 45 laps and do 200 sit-ups a day. I said to the players that they would end either quitting or having one of the toughest teams around. It seems to be more of the latter."

Leading the charge for the Highlanders have been pitchers Matt Magill, Tanner Peters, Kyle Zeuner and Raul Rodriguez.

Magill has been nearly untouchable, allowing eight hits and no earned runs in 14 innings of work. Unfortunately, he recently suffered an elbow injury and is expected to miss at least two weeks.

Cliff Quick, Mike Vinyard, Justin Czyrklis, Kenny Walden, Chris Rock, Peters and Magill have been Royal's most productive hitters. - Thomas Gase