Tars out of trouble, into the title game

CORONA DEL MAR ? Harry Houdini would have been proud.

The Newport Harbor High baseball team, escaping jams in several innings and using three pitchers in the seventh, emerged with a 3-2 victory over El Rancho in a Beach Pit Classic semifinal on Tuesday.

The victory puts the Sailors in the championship game of the tournament ? formerly known as the Pride of the Coast ? for the first time in Coach Evan Chalmers’ memory. Newport Harbor will play Westlake ? 5-4 winners over Ventura in the other semifinal ? at 3 p.m. today at Corona del Mar High.

Chalmers, who was a Newport Harbor assistant for four years before taking over the head coaching position this season, watched his team jump out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, then spend the rest of the game holding on with all its might.

Starting pitcher Kris Packwood and reliever Phillip Martin ? by the skin of their teeth ? were able to keep the Dons off the scoreboard through six innings, despite two bases loaded jams.

The real trouble started in the top of the seventh for the Sailors (10-7). Martin, who pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief, gave up a leadoff single to Erik Garcia and hit Daniel Perez with a pitch, which prompted Chalmers to replace him with Tyler Parker, who picked up the win over Westminster La Quinta on Monday by hurling two scoreless innings to close out the game.

Parker surrendered an RBI single to Rudy Dominguez before getting clean-up man Albert Nolasko to pop to shortstop Jarrett Daniel, and Enrique Navarro to strike out. Then Parker’s curveball kept finding the dirt and he walked the next two batters. Perez scored on the second walk to cut Newport Harbor’s lead to 3-2. Both runs were charged to Martin.

The bases were loaded with two outs when Parker went to a 2-and-0 count to Marco Riperto. At that point, Chalmers replaced him with sophomore RJ D’Cruz, who jogged in from left field, worked the count full, then got Riperto to ground out to third baseman P.J. Errington.

“RJ came into an impossible situation, behind in the count 2-0 with the bases loaded and came up huge,” Packwood said.

It marked D’Cruz’s first save of the season.

“To bring in a sophomore in that situation, most people were probably thinking I’m crazy,” Chalmers said. “That’s as big as it gets. He showed a lot of composure to come in and make some good pitches in that situation.”

In the bottom of the first inning, Daniel led off with a single to right field and Errington, trying to sacrifice, reached on a throwing error. After senior Skylar Cozad walked to load the bases, senior Dustin Schuler hit a ball up the middle that caromed off the second-base bag and into center field to score two runs. Cozad scored Newport Harbor’s third run on a fielder’s choice.

Packwood, who picked up the save in Newport Harbor’s 4-2 victory over Rancho Alamitos on Saturday, went 3 2/3 innings, allowing six hits while striking out four.

“Packwood is very strong mentally and has a unique tempo,” Chalmers said. “He’s very intense.”

Packwood left the bases loaded in the second inning, escaping the jam by inducing a fly ball to right field.

The Dons loaded the bases again in the fourth inning when Packwood allowed two singles and hit a batter. With two outs, Martin took the mound and got Dominguez to fly to right-center field to end the threat.

“They had the bases loaded twice and we kept them blanked,” Chalmers said. “That’s a tribute to the older guys, the seniors who have developed as leaders.”

Reaching the tourney final is a big moment for Packwood, who remembers the leaner years.

“I remember my freshman year, watching the varsity team get crushed in this tournament,” Packwood said. “It’s an awesome feeling to see this team get to the championship game. But we’re not done yet. We have one more to go.”