'Small ball' working big-time for Grace Brethren
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers FOCUSED- Brett Hockenberry shows total concentration while hitting soft toss during Monday's practice. Hockenberry pitched a no-hitter for the Lancers on April 12 against Faith Baptist.

In his first season as head baseball coach for Grace Brethren, Terry Gourley has showcased a type of offense called "small ball." The amount of runs the team has produced, however, is anything but miniscule.

En route to a 17-3 overall record, Grace Brethren has won its last eight games. During the streak the team has scored 74 runs, including 18 runs against Villanova Prep a week ago.

What's surprising is that none of the runs have come by the way of the long ball.

"We'll be lucky if we hit one home run all year," Gourley said. "We have a lot of speed, so we steal a lot of bases and execute a lot of hit-and-runs to score."

Third baseman and cleanup hitter Gunnar Ohmie said he enjoys the style of offense the team is playing.

"I love playing 'small ball' because it seems as if we earn all of our runs," Ohmie said. "When we win, it really feels like a win."

The team's hitting is led by junior Ben Burg, who usually bats in the No. 3 spot. Burg previously played shortstop for the Lancers, but an injury to his shoulder limited him to the designated hitter's role.

Although Gourley wishes Burg had been 100 percent healthy, the coach said his hitting improved.

"When he was batting as a DH, he was going to the opposite field a little more because his shoulder didn't allow him to pull the ball as much," Gourley said. "Now he's doing a better job of going with the pitch and hitting to all fields."

Other hitters contributing early on to the Lancer offensive machine are Kevin Ramay, Ryan Curnel, Wes Giardini, Nick Schmidt and Brett Hockenberry.

Although Hockenberry has produced at the plate, he has done even more damage on the mound. In fact, against Faith Baptist this year, not even Hockenberry himself knew how good he was.

"I threw a no-hitter against Faith Baptist this past month, but I didn't even know I had a no-hitter until the last out of the game," Hockenberry said. "I thought they got a hit in the first inning, and I didn't notice any of my teammates not talking to me in the dugout."

The Lancers are looking for their fifth CIF-Southern Section Division VI Championship this year, having previously won in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002. Come playoff time, having an excellent pitching staff is vital to advancing, and GBHS is loaded with great arms.

Besides Hockenberry, the Lancers will count on Giardini, Ohmie, Burg, Ramey, Schmidt and Curnel to bolster their staff.

In its last 15 games, Grace Brethren's hurlers have given up only 23 runs, an average of 1.5 runs per game. During that stretch, Lancer pitchers have thrown four shutouts.

"We have a staff that compliments each other well," Gourley said. "We will throw a guy like a left-hander in Hockenberry and then throw hitters off balance by bringing in a guy like Giardini, who throws some faster stuff right-handed."

Although Gourley is the head coach, he has a lot of help. Shawn Stephans, the 21yearold son of former coach Russ Stephans, is an assistant and is being groomed to take over the team in two years or less.

"I could have gone over to Agoura with my dad and been an assistant, but Terry sat me down and had a talk with me," Stephans said.

"He told me that he is a football guy and that I knew stuff about baseball he didn't. He told me about what he wanted to do with this team, and after the talk I was just like, 'Hey, sign me in. I'm aboard for this.'"

The combo of Gourley working with Stephans has paid off as the Lancers are currently tied in the loss column with Carpinteria for first place in the Frontier League.

"When people ask how I'm doing now, they are asking about the baseball team and not the football team, so that has been nice," Gourley said. "Hopefully we can keep playing well."