Prep baseball: Sea Kings come up short in 12

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - The sum of 3 1/2 hours of play, 377 combined

pitches, 105 plate appearances, 27 hits, 26 runners left on, 22

strikeouts, 12 innings and two runners thrown out at home plate, was one

big disappointment Friday for the Corona del Mar High baseball team.

The Sea Kings led early, then rallied to tie, before eventually

dropping their CIF Southern Section Division IV first-round playoff game,

4-3, to visiting Ocean View.

“In the four years I’ve been here, we’ve been fortunate to be on the

winning end of these, more than we’ve been on the losing end,” CdM Coach

John Emme said. “You have to take the good with the bad.”

Taking control of this marathon affair proved difficult for both

teams.

“It was a great high school baseball game,” Ocean View Coach Steve

Barrett said. “It seemed like it had a little bit of everything. There

were times when it looked like (the Sea Kings) had the game in their

hands, then there were times when we had it in our hands.”

After an unearned Ocean View run in the first inning, it was CdM hands

which cupped a 2-1 lead, when junior center fielder Billy Eagle followed

a Keith Long single with an opposite-field home run against Ocean View

senior left-hander Tyler Kreil.

Two singles and a fielder’s choice brought the visitors (17-13) even

in the third, however, and an RBI double by designated hitter Joe Lococo

put Kreil in position to outlast his mound counterpart, senior Cavan

Cuyler.

Singles by Long, Eric Snell and Andrew Johns, however, produced the

equalizer in the CdM sixth, before things settled in and the innings

began mounting.

Cuyler left the bases loaded in the seventh, before exiting the game

to end his standout three-year varsity career. He yielded 10 hits, but

surrendered only one earned run. He struck out four and walked only one.

Snell, another senior, took over on the mound, working four shutout

innings, including perfect frames in the ninth and 11th, before the fateful 12th.

“Cavan and Snelly were both phenomenal,” Emme said of his pitching

workhorses.

After leaving the bases loaded in the eighth, CdM (15-9) had a prime

opportunity to break the extra-inning deadlock, when freshman Danny

Whitaker beat out an infield chopper for a leadoff single in the ninth.

He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dave Knecht, and, with two

outs, attempted to score on Snell’s single to left field.

But, the Ocean View outfielder charged the ball and threw a one-hop

strike to catcher B.J. Dubarry, who applied the tag. Dubarry bobbled the

ball as he attempted to pull it from his glove to show the umpire he had

possession, but the ump ruled he had it long enough to preserve the out

-- and the tie.

Dubarry, who drove in his team’s first two runs, walked to start the

Seahawks 10th. He was sacrificed to second and advanced to third on an

error. After Snell got the second out on a strikeout, Dubarry attempted

to steal home, but was thrown out on a close play.

Dubarry, however, drove in the game-winner with a one-out single to

right and the Pacific Coast League champions managed only a two-out

single in their final at-bat.

Dubarry was among three Seahawks with multiple hits to help the

visitors’ 14-hit attack.

Knecht, Long, Eagle and Snell, the first four hitters in the CdM

order, also had two hits apiece and Long also scored two runs.

Each remaining spot in the CdM order produced one hit, but it wasn’t

enough to avert elimination.

“No one can say we didn’t have our chances,” Emme said. “We gave them

a couple runs early and we just didn’t get the key hits.”

Emme said the loss was particularly tough for the seniors.

“These seniors have been together for a long time. When they were

freshmen, I thought we’d have something special and we did. They’re all

great kids.”

Sophomore Phillip Hann, the Seahawks’ third pitcher, earned the

victory.

“That was the best overall pitching performance we’ve had this year,”

Barrett said.

CIF DIVISION IV PLAYOFFS

First round

Ocean View 4, Corona del Mar 3

Ocean View 101 010 000 001 - 4 14 2

Corona del Mar 200 001 000 000 - 3 13 3

Kreil, Lapier (8), Hann (11) and Durbarry; Cuyler, Snell (8) and

McKeever. W - Hann, 3-1. L - Snell, 4-2. 2B - Lococo (OV), Yoakum (OV).

HR - Eagle (CdM).