La Jolla High School pitcher Trenton Fudge is at the plate and hits a ball that drops untouched between two outfielders, who barely move toward the catchable ball. It figures. Fudge has been the recipient already this season of some good fortune and good luck. “When he plays, things happen,” bemusedly observes Steve Booth, assistant coach for the La Jolla baseball team. The fly ball in question came with runners on second and third, the Vikings down 3-1 to the visiting Birmingham (Van Nuys) Patriots. Fudge’s double drove in two runs, tying the Lions Tournament contest in the fifth inning. La Jolla went on to win 10-4 after the mental mistake opened the floodgates. Another lucky chance that fell the 17-year-old junior’s way came in the championship game of an earlier tournament, Bully’s East. He came in to relieve with the Vikings leading. He gave up a grand slam to the second batter he faced from Santa Fe Christian. He laughs, “I came in when we were leading, and then we fell behind.” Yet he picked up the victory when La Jolla rallied to come back and win the tournament title game. “The baseball gods have been smiling on him,” Jacob Grosz, the Vikings’ pitching coach, says. Booth guffawed at his player’s luck so far. “He has (multiple) wins, and he isn’t even a starter,” he says. Fudge chuckles at his fortune so far this season. He took last year off after playing baseball as a freshman, going out for the tennis team. “But I was convinced (to play baseball again),” he says, smiling. “I wanted to play with Ben (Wintringer),” a fellow junior who plays in the infield, like Fudge. He invokes the nickname “The Vulture” for the way he has fed off other hurlers’ efforts to get credit for wins through the first part of the 2015 campaign. He was 3-1 as a reliever through the team’s first 11 games, which is pretty remarkable. Against Birmingham in the Lions Tournament, he pitched only 1? innings, facing seven batters, to snag the win. He didn’t seem aware of the original bearer of the “Vulture” moniker – right-hander Phil Regan of the Dodgers, who went 14-1 in relief in L.A.’s National League championship year of 1966. Sandy Koufax hung the nickname on Regan for swooping in to take away some of his wins in the last innings. Fudge, whose older brother Braden played baseball and sister Kailey played volleyball for the Vikings, makes it look easy. But it certainly doesn’t come without effort and ability. In his other sport, football, the swift wide receiver clipped the Santa Fe Christian Eagles’ wings in the CIF playoffs last fall with three touchdown catches – the third a fingertip catch just over the outstretched hands of his defender, who was checking him closely. “That was Collin (Rugg). He’s a great quarterback. He just placed it perfectly. But I did my part,” says the dual-sport student athlete. The underdog theme comes out as one converses with Fudge, who is taking U.S. history in class. He admires the way George Washington strategized and led a ragtag citizen militia in the Revolutionary War to defeat the army of Great Britain, the world’s superpower at the time. The wide receiver, who like his brother Braden is a kicker in football, is listed as 5’10″, 155 pounds in the Lions Baseball Tournament program. He’s going up against opponents much bigger than him. “Typically, our football team is an underdog,” he says. He lists La Jolla’s opponents last fall: Country Day, Bishop’s, Madison and Christian, all four of whom made it to CIF title games at the end of the season, with all but Madison triumphing. La Jolla swamped Country Day in the two teams’ season opener three months prior to that. Fudge’s parents are Jill Cutri and Robert Fudge, both of whom attend Trenton’s games as much as possible. Fudge loves the beach as well as an In-N-Out order of a double-double, fries and a vanilla shake. He orders the California Burrito at Don Jose’s. Friends would describe him as outgoing and funny. “I like to joke around. I’m a happy guy. I like to be around people,” he responds when asked to describe himself. “We both (Braden and I) played soccer,” says Fudge in partial explanation of their success in kicking in football. “I feel he was a better kicker – a stronger leg. But we’ll see,” allowing for his senior season yet to come.