Eubank carries Panthers

A season that began with Luke Eubank of Newbury Park being a rather anonymous right-handed pitcher ended Friday night under the lights at Dodger Stadium with Eubank being saluted as the teenager who helped deliver a Southern Section Division 1championship.

It was a vintage Eubank performance in a 2-1 victory over Corona. No walks. Eight strikeouts. Just three hits givenup. He pitched his 11th complete game and improved his record to 11-0. And it took just 83 minutes.

“That kid just carried us the whole way,” Coach Matt Goldfield said. “He was incredible.”

After Eubank got a strikeout to end the game, Newbury Park began its dog pile, and students charged onto the field from the stands to join the celebration. Neither a fence nor a security guard was going to stop them from joining their classmates in an accomplishment that featured the Panthers winning five consecutive playoff games in one of the toughest divisions in the nation.

“It was probably the greatest game we’ve ever played,” an emotional Eubank said. “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done. We’ve made everybody proud. The fans are going crazy. This is a group effort. I’m so thankful for everything.”

Corona (19-15), the fifth-place finisher from the Big VIII League trying to win its sixth consecutive playoff game, got a strong pitching performance from Patrick Duarte, who struck out three and gave up seven hits.

In the third, Newbury Park scored its two runs on run-scoring doubles by Taylor Zander and Ricky Davis for a 2-0 lead.

After retiring the first nine batters of the game, Eubank gave up consecutive singles to Zac Cavazos and Adrian Marmolejo in the fourth. After a strikeout, Eubank hit Bryce Robison. Derek Robison followed with an RBI single.

Then Eubank got a strikeout and force out to end the basesloaded situation. Corona never came close to scoring the rest of the way.