Prep baseball: CdM winning streak halted

Barry Faulkner

GARDEN GROVE - While major league teams will break camp the next

few days in preparation for Monday’s opening day, the Corona del Mar High

baseball team broke its concentration Monday, in a tuneup tournament game

leading into the biggest week of the young Pacific Coast League campaign.

“That was one of the worst practices we’ve ever had,” CdM Coach John

Emme said of the 7-2 loss to Garden Grove in an at-large game of the

Foothill-Costa Mesa Tournament on the Argonauts’ diamond.

“This was a glorified scrimmage for us and, hopefully, we’ll come out

of it knowing we’ve got to play much better (today).”

The Sea Kings (6-3, 3-0 in the PCL), will try to maintain sole

possession of the league lead today when it hosts University (2-0-1 in

league) at 3:15 p.m. The Sea Kings visit Costa Mesa (also 2-0-1 in

league) Friday.

“We came in today with a plan to pull back a little,” Emme said.

“Unfortunately, we pulled back a lot.”

A bad omen came early for CdM, which entered on a five-game winning

streak.

The leadoff man dropped a single in front of the charging Argo center

fielder, who promptly misplayed the ball for what appeared to be a

three-base error and a 1-0 CdM lead. But, the base umpire erased the run

and recorded the first out, ruling the runner missed second base.

“That kind of took some wind out of our sails,” Emme said.

CdM sophomore shortstop Keith Long followed with a long home run over

the left-field fence and Billy Eagle then singled and stole second.

But, Grove senior right-hander Felipe Garcia settled in from there,

retiring 15 of the next 17 he faced.

Only a two-out Jason Savopolos triple in the second and a two-out solo

homer by senior second baseman Wes Hockinson in the fourth gave Garcia

pause.

“(Garcia) is not one of our top pitchers,” Grove Coach Jim Rawls said.

“But he’s a third-year varsity player who has pitched well for us at

times.”

Garcia, who improved to 2-2 this spring, also earned praise from Emme.

“He took what the umpire gave him,” Emme said. “He was throwing

ankle-high pitches and the umpire was calling them strikes. You have to

come out and beat these guys, because they’re not going to roll over. He

threw strikes and we didn’t have a very good approach at the plate. We

started pressing and hitting the ball in the air.”

Garcia worked ahead in the count most of the day. He threw 78 pitches

in six innings, 51 for strikes.

Emme gave senior Matt Marston his first start of the season and he was

happy with the results.

“I thought Matt threw well,” Emme said of the right-hander, who

defeated Garden Grove on the mound as a junior.

Marston was victimized by two unearned runs in the second, when a

throwing error helped the hosts take a 2-1 lead.

CdM answered back in the fourth, when Hockinson launched a drive over

the left-center field fence to knot the score.

But the Argos (7-5, 0-2 in the Garden Grove League), took the lead for

good in the fourth, when a single, walk, triple and wild pitch produced a

5-2 cushion.

Eagle and Snell smacked one-out singles in the CdM sixth, but Garcia

got the next two hitters to work out of the jam.

Garcia gave way to Tom O’Brien, who worked a scoreless seventh to

extend the Argos’ winning streak to three games, heading into a

home-and-home league series Wednesday and Friday with powerful La Quinta.

Eagle went 2 for 3 with a stolen base to pace the Sea Kings’ eight-hit

attack, which also included a pinch-hit single by freshman Danny

Whittaker.

Senior Andrew Johns scooped a pair of low throws out of the dirt at

first base to lead the CdM defense, which included fine plays by Snell

(charging a well-placed bunt to nail his man at first) and Long

(retreating to snag a pop up in shallow left).

In addition, sophomore Griffin Dunzer, who typically competes for the

junior varsity, worked two innings on the mound.

“I thought Griffin did a good job,” Emme said. “He’s going to be a

good one.”

Dunzer allowed two runs in the seventh, but left the bases loaded by

inducing an inning-ending flyout with a 3-2 curveball to Garcia.

Emme said another plus was getting some much-needed rest for senior

catcher Rory McKeever. He caught the final two innings, but Emme said

he’ll be fresh for the Trojans today.

“If I have to get our guys excited (against Uni), they shouldn’t even

be playing baseball,” Emme said.

FOOTHILL-COSTA MESA TOURNAMENT

At-large game

Garden Grove 7, CdM 7

Corona del Mar 100 100 0 - 2 8 2

Garden Grove 020 302 x - 7 9 0

Marston, Dunzer (5) and Lutton, McKeever (5); Garcia, O’Brien (7) and

Bennett. W - Garcia, 2-2. L - Marston, 0-1. 2B - Bennett (GG). 3B -

Savopolos (CdM), Fernandez (GG). HR - Long (CdM), Hockinson (CdM).