Titanic inning dooms CdM

Rick Devereux

A tightly contested baseball game turned into a route thanks to an

11-run inning as host Tesoro High defeated Corona del Mar, 14-2,

Monday in Pacific Coast League action.

“They’re a better team than us,” CdM Coach John Emme said. “We’ve

had defensive troubles all year and they reared their ugly head again

today.”

The Sea Kings (16-8, 9-5 in league) committed five errors,

including four in the 11-run sixth to turn a 3-2 game into a blowout.

“We were just trying to keep it going,” Tesoro Coach Rick Brail

said. “We wanted to keep the pace up and apply as much pressure as

possible.”

CdM appeared to be the more aggressive team at the outset.

Sophomore Jake Lemmerman belted the first pitch he saw over the

left-field fence for a solo homer in the first.

Three batters later, senior right fielder Andy Frenkiel hit an RBI

single into right center that allowed Wess Presson to score from

second.

Lemmerman, Frenkiel and a leadoff single by junior Andrew

Williamson in the fifth inning were the only hits by CdM.

Bryan Evans struck out eightin six innings for Tesoro (19-6,

13-1).

“I’m very happy with how Bryan settled down after the first

inning,” Brail said.

Evans threw 62 pitches and retired 11 straight batters at one

point.

The Titans got on the board in the third inning when Sam Lew drew

a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a wild pitch and a single, and

scored on another wild pitch.

Tesoro, which secured the league championship with a 13-0 win over

Laguna Beach Friday, took the lead in the fifth inning on

back-to-back RBI doubles by Steve Tinoco and Derek Craddock.

The flood gates flew open in the sixth when the Titans sent 17

batters to the plate. CdM pitchers gave up four bases on balls,

including one with the bases full. The Sea Kings also hit two

batters, once to load the bases and again with the bases full.

Tesoro batters faced a bases-loaded situation 11 times in the

seventh inning. Tinoco, Erik Harmen and Jeff Senters came up with the

bases full twice in the seventh. Tinoco finished 1 for 2 with four

RBI, while reaching base twice on walks and once on a fielding error.

“We got a couple of infield hits and things started to go our

way,” Brail said. “We’ve got all the respect in the world for CdM,

but we’re happy with how this turned out. We’ve been on the other end

of a game like this before. It’s no fun.”

Bad luck snowballed against CdM, which has secured second place in

league. Sea King players lost pop flies in the sun, were half of a

step too late to catch bloop singles and, when they did make

defensive stops, were unable to get runners out.

“They are a superior team to us in every facet,” Emme said. “They

hit. We didn’t. They fielded. We didn’t. They pitched. We didn’t.”

Corona del Mar, ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division III,

is 0-2 against the Titans this season after going 4-0 against Tesoro

last season, including a 3-1 victory in the Division IV championship

game at Dodger Stadium.

“We still have a bitter taste in our mouths because of last year,”

Brail said. Even though the game had no impact on the league

standings, Brail said there was no chance his team would look past

the Sea Kings.

“Maybe against a different team [a letdown] might happen, but not

against CdM. No way,” he said.

The two teams finish the regular season Wednesday at CdM at 3:15

p.m.

“There is nothing positive we can take from this game,” Emme said.

“The only positive thing is we get to play them again Wednesday.”

Tesoro beat the Sea Kings, 7-2, at CdM March 29.

Pacific Coast League

Tesoro 14,

Corona del Mar 2

Score by Innings

*--*

CdM 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 3 5

Tesoro 0 0 1 0 2 11 x - 14 9 0

*--*

Eadington, St. John (4), Hauser (6), Folks (6) and Presson; Evans,

Soria (7) and Amster. W -- Evans, 7-1. L -- Eadington, 4-2. 2B --

Timoco (T), Craddock (T). HR -- Lemmerman (CdM).