Agoura High continues to enjoy resurgence on the baseball diamond

Agoura High’s baseball team may not be in the Marmonte League driver’s seat, but the engine is purring like a kitten and Head Coach Zach Miller believes he has the Chargers pointed in the right direction.

After playing the Simi Valley Pioneers on Friday, Agoura took a

14-5 overall, 6-2 league record against the Westlake High Warriors yesterday and at 3 p.m. tomorrow May 4, they play the Thousand Oaks Lancers.

Against the Pioneers, Agoura won 6-5 as Paul Farinacci pounded out four hits in four at-bats including a homer and a knocked in a pair of RBIs. The Chargers got their game going with four runs during the first inning.

Simi Valley came back with a run in the third inning and added one more during the fourth inning. Agoura and the Pioneers scored two each during the sixth and seventh innings, respectively.

The Chargers traveled to Simi Valley a week ago and beat highly rated Royal, 8-6. After that game, Miller took the team through wind

sprints, then sat them down on the field, congratulated them and explained the importance of the remaining schedule.

Later collecting his thoughts, he said, ‘‘We played in a very tough place. They (Royal) are not ranked for nothing. They got the last one, we got this one.

‘‘We out-worked our opponent, physically and mentally.’’

It wasn’t unusual, Miller said, to have running drills after a game. Practicing hard every day is the key to the team’s success this year, he said.

Westlake was in first place in the Marmonte League when the teams met yesterday, but Miller wouldn’t discuss that game. ‘‘Friday’s game against Simi Valley is next,’’ he said. ‘‘We can’t even think about games beyond that. We’re playing one game at a time. We have to stay focused.’’

The Chargers got off to a quick first inning 4-0 lead and added another run in the fourth inning to take command of the Royal game with a 5-0 score.

Farinacci reached first after being hit by Dan Fisher’s errant pitch. Chris Denove followed with a single, Brian Grant walked and Ashley Trujillo knocked them across. Adam Schneider scored the other two runs on a deep double to right field.

Grant singled and Trujillo doubled to right to score the fifth run.

In the fifth, Royal’s Brian Cirricroni singled, Michael Guinn walked and David Talley doubled to center field to produce two runs.

The Highlanders tightened the score to 5-4 in the fifth inning when Eric Ross hit a two-run homer. Trujillo, 3 for 3 at the plate, answered back in the sixth inning for Agoura with a home run over the right field fence to increase the Charger lead to 6-4.

But Royal tied the game at 6 during its half of the sixth inning as Talley doubled, Wyatt Whaley singled, Trevor Andrews hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Ryan Keys hit an RBI single to left field.

Agoura scored its final runs in the seventh inning. Nick Trombetta singled, Adam Hersh drew a walk and Denove doubled to right to score Trombetta and Hersh.

The Royal win was a big one, but Miller gave much credit for the team’s success to others.

‘‘We have the support of the district, the school, the faculty, the parents and players. It’s a team, not just Coach Miller,’’ he said.

‘‘Support is everywhere. It’s not about one player. It’s (about all of) the players. It’s a machine, complete with many parts. Not one team that works harder. UPS says, ‘We run the tightest ship in the shipping business.’ I trust my guys. They want to win.’’

Miller, at Agoura after coaching baseball at a private high school in Las Vegas, is a full-time special education teacher at Agoura High. ‘‘I love my jobs,’’ he said.

And Charger fans must love this love this year’s baseball team.