Sea Kings alone in first
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Barry Faulkner
CORONA DEL MAR -- Less than two weeks after hitting bottom, the
Corona del Mar High baseball program finds itself alone at the top.
The Sea Kings surrendered four runs in the first inning, but
overwhelmed Pacific Coast League visitor University with four home
runs Friday, en route to an 11-6 victory. The win, CdM’s fourth
straight in league, propelled Coach John Emme’s squad (8-4, 5-2 in
the PCL) into sole possession of first place, one game ahead of Uni.
The one-game lead, however, is bolstered by the fact that the Sea
Kings have won 2 of 3 from the Trojans, giving them the advantage
should a head-to-head tiebreaker be required.
Junior third baseman Josh Bradbury, who one-hit the Trojans for
six innings in Tuesday’s 11-0 CdM victory, joined senior shortstop
Keith Long as the offensive leaders Thursday.
Bradbury hit a solo home run to left field in the first inning and
belted a two-run dinger to right-center to add some insurance in the
sixth. Bradbury now has four homers, tying junior Nick Palchikoff for
the team lead.
Long launched a three-run homer to left field in the fourth to
give the Sea Kings their first lead, 6-5. He finished 3 for 3 with a
walk, four RBIs and two runs.
Sophomore Wess Presson added a two-run shot, the first of his
two-year varsity career, in the fifth to help fortify the hosts’
12-hit attack.
The four-homer game, which upped the CdM season total to 12,
rekindled memories of the “Back Bay Bombers” of 1998-99, who amassed
77 home runs in those two seasons.
“I love it when I get to undercoach,” Emme said. “There’s nothing
I like more than just being able to watching our guys swing. It was a
lot of fun today.”
University Coach Chris Conlin was also impressed by the Sea Kings’
muscle at the plate.
“They’re really physical,” Conlin said. “You don’t really want to
pitch to the first five guys in their lineup.”
It was University, however, that had the most big hits early,
driving in three of its four first-inning runs with a double by Nick
Jerakos and singles by Dan Warner and Jason Rice.
Two wild pitches and a balk helped the visitors hand CdM its first
deficit since a 12-4 league road loss to Calvary Chapel March 28.
It was after the Calvary Chapel setback, a performance Emme termed
a complete embarrassment, that the CdM players decided they would
turn things around with improved work ethic in practice.
“We wanted to prepare better and not come into games so
lackadaisical,” Bradbury said.
“I tied to just let the team figure out what the problem was and
they said they wanted to change things,” Emme said.
The Sea Kings responded with consecutive victories over Northwood
(3-2) and Tesoro (7-4), before taking two this week from a Uni team
that knocked them off, 6-5, in the March 21 league opener at CdM.
CdM might have erased the early Uni lead Thursday in the first two
innings, if not for two of its three baserunning blunders on the day.
The first occurred when a runner was picked off first by the Uni
catcher, just prior to Bradbury’s solo blast.
After three walks and a hit batter pushed across a CdM run in the
second, a Sea King runner was doubled off second on a line drive to
right field. On the same play, the Sea King at third base failed to
tag up, though he eventually scored on Long’s RBI single.
Uni increased its lead to 5-3 in the fourth inning, when Rucky
McKinley drove a solo homer over the center-field fence. The Trojans
added two singles in the inning, but CdM reliever Nick Rhodes avoided
further damage, capping a three-inning stint in which he retired nine
of the 13 he faced.
Rhodes was rewarded with his second victory in as many decisions
when the Sea Kings scored three in the fifth.
Wess Presson reached on an infield throwing error to start the
rally and Jerrit Thayer singled with one out to set the stage for
Long’s heroic round-tripper, his first of the spring.
After CdM senior reliever Todd Macklin retired the side in order
in the fifth, Presson cashed in Barrett Sprowl’s leadoff single with
a two-out, two-run clout to left-center.
Macklin then worked out of a jam in the sixth, allowing just one
run, and worked a perfect seventh for his first save. He set down
nine of the 12 he faced, including three strikeouts.
“Our relievers did a good job today,” Emme said.
Three runs in the sixth took some of the tension out of Uni’s last
at-bat. After Long led off with a walk and Bradbury followed with a
homer, Tyler Lents reached on a throwing error. Sprowl (2 for 3 after
doubling three times against the Trojans Tuesday) and Palchikoff
loaded the bases with singles, the latter a perfectly place bunt.
Macklin drove in the third run of the inning with a fielder’s
choice grounder.
CdM catcher Danny Marin-Finn, who drove in a run with a walk, also
singled twice and blocked balls in the dirt all day to help keep Uni
baserunners from advancing.
Sprowl also made two fine defensive plays and Thayer, a junior
second baseman who was 1 for 3 at the plate, made the defensive play
of the day, diving to make a backhanded stab of a liner for the first
out in the seventh.
The Sea Kings will try to extend their winning streak Saturday at
11 a.m., when they host Back Bay rival Newport Harbor in the first
roud of the Pride of the Coast Tournament.
*--*
Pacific Coast League
CdM 11, University 6 Score by Innings
Univ 400 101 0 -- 6 9 2
CdM 120 323 x -- 11 12 0
Warner, Rackliffe (5) and Huffaker;
Contant, N. Rhodes (2), Macklin (5) and
Marin-Finn. W -- N. Rhodes, 2-0. L --
Warner. Sv -- Macklin (1). 2B -- Gerakos
(U). HR -- Bradbury (CdM) 2, Long (CdM),
McKinley (U), Presson (CdM)
*--*
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