La Mirada~After facing five Division I opponents to start the season--including a nationally ranked team in Edison--it might have seemed that things would get a little easier for the struggling La Mirada High School baseball team.

Think again.

Lakewood is the nation's new No. 1 squad in the maxprep.com rankings, and guess who the Matadores face in not one, but two games, at home Thursday?  Uhmm, Lakewood.

Yep, the same team that clobbered the Matadores, 10-0, in a second-round Loara Tournament contest March 6.

However, the doubleheader will be an opportunity for La Mirada (2-3), a multi-talented and experienced squad itself, to regroup and rebound and prove that its lofty rankings in numerous pre-season polls weren't without foundation.

The Lancers (5-0), fresh off winning the brutally tough Loara Tournament championship by outscoring their opponents 39-7, are led by a terrific player in senior Jeff Yamaguchi, a Long Beach St. signee who earned the event's MVP.

In the first meeting against La Mirada, Yamaguchi hit a monumental atomic blast to the top of Lakewood's leftfield Chainlink Monster, an entity which is cleared less than the times Godzilla destroyed Japan.

The first game is set for 12:30 p.m., with the nightcap approximately 3 p.m.