Agoura’s first-year baseball coach Adam Goldstein probably wasn’t so jovial when his Chargers were blowing leads in the seventh inning this spring. However, just days before a CIF Southern Section championship game, he can look back on those head-shaking moments with a grin.
“We were up 4-1 against Westlake in the seventh with two outs and two strikes,” Goldstein said with a cynical laugh. “We lost 9-4. That’s hard to do.”
You know what’s even harder? Growing from a colossal breakdown — or in Agoura’s case — multiple colossal breakdowns.
“These guys like each other,” Goldstein said. “Once the work caught up with the confidence, that’s when we came together.”
The resilience of Agoura (19-13) has taken the Chargers from a fifth-place Marmonte League team with a second chance via an at-large berth into the playoffs, all the way to the CIF Southern Section Division 3 finals, where they’ll face Mira Costa (20-12) at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The two teams played on Feb. 23 and Agoura won 4-3 in the Easton Tournament.
Goldstein says the team’s three-game league series against Thousand Oaks was the turnaround moment. Agoura beat the Lancers two out of three times and scored 12 and 16 runs, respectively, in the two victories.
“These guys have been at it six days a week since October,” Goldstein said.
The Chargers have talent, too.
Senior center fielder Tyler Starling and senior shortstop Braden Oliver are the stars of the team in the field and at the plate. Starling, who is batting .337 with 30 hits, 33 RBIs and seven homers, is touted as one of Ventura County’s best athletes.
“I’m not kidding, this postseason alone, he’s single-handedly taken away five or six runs on defense in center field,” Goldstein said.
Oliver is a UC Irvine commit and immediately stands out at 6-foot-4, 205 pounds. He’s an MLB prospect with major league bloodlines. His father, Brian, played for the Texas Rangers. Oliver is batting .312 with 30 hits, 25 RBIs, seven doubles and seven home runs this season.
From the bump, the star arm is senior Donovan Anthony, who will be the starter in Saturday’s final. In 11 appearances this spring, his ERA is 0.53 with 71 strikeouts in 52⅔ innings of work.
Then there are the foundational role guys. Freshman pitcher Zach Partee anchored the team in their semifinal win earlier in the week. Freshman catcher Dirt Ibanez has emerged as an invaluable part of the team after numerous catchers ahead of him went down with injuries.
And how about 5-foot-8 junior Jordan Tagawa.
“He does everything,” Goldstein said. “He steals bases. He’ll execute a hit and run. He’ll turn something routine into an out or an extra base hit. He’s so easy to root for.”
Saturday will be Agoura’s second appearance in the CIF-SS finals. The Chargers reached the Division 1 final in 2006, but lost to Lakewood 2-1.
Goldstein was an assistant coach for Agoura’s softball program for eight years before raising his hand for the baseball job. His son played baseball at Harvard-Westlake. His daughter played softball at Agoura. Both went on to play at UC Santa Barbara.
With both children gone to college and out of the house, he said he needed something to do.
“I tell people that being an empty nester isn’t all that great. It’s so bad, I’m coaching at Agoura,” Goldstein said in jest.
“I’m kidding. But I’m so glad I raised my hand for this,” he added. “What a wonderful season we’re having. But I tell you what, we aren’t just happy to be there (in the final), we are there to win the thing.”