Sea Kings’ fifth puts Mustangs on the floor

COSTA MESA ? Everything was going so well.

The Costa Mesa High baseball team had replaced the memory of a six-game losing streak with two consecutive victories in the Beach Pit Classic.

When Corona del Mar jumped ahead, 2-0, in the third inning of the tournament’s consolation championship, the Mustangs responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning and one in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead.

Then came the fifth inning. Three hit batters, two walks, five singles, three pitchers and an ejected coach later, the Sea Kings had scored 10 runs, easily the most surrendered by the Mustangs in a single inning all season. After six innings, the game was over with Corona del Mar a 15-3 winner.

“That was our longest inning of the year,” Costa Mesa first baseman Alex Dominguez said. “It was a total breakdown.”

It was the most runs the Sea Kings (11-5, 3-1 in league) had scored in an inning all year and the third consecutive game that Corona del Mar posted has double digits in runs.

Sea Kings shortstop Jake Lemmerman had two hits and two runs in the inning. He went 4 for 4 with four RBI and a home run for the second consecutive game.

Lemmerman missed what would have been his first five-hit game of the year when he hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to drive in Vinnie St. John.

Lemmerman said that with the game in hand he was just working on his swing.

“There were runners on, so I was just trying to go opposite field,” he said.

Lemmerman started the day beating out a ground ball to shortstop, then punctuated a 12-pitch at-bat in the third with a two-run home run to centerfield.

“I was sitting on that,” the junior said. “The umpire was calling a wide strike zone and I knew that pitch was coming. I made a few adjustments. I choked up on the bat so I could stay inside the ball and drive it.”

Lemmerman’s home run gave the Sea Kings a 2-0 lead.

Costa Mesa (8-10, 1-4 in league) answered in the bottom of the inning, tying the score on Dominguez’s two-strike, two-out single to right. Corona del Mar starter Austin Elliot threw a curveball and Dominguez did what he said the team had been working on in practice.

“I was expecting that pitch,” Dominguez said. “I sat back on it. We’ve been working on going opposite field in practice.”

Costa Mesa took the lead with a run in the fourth, but it wouldn’t beyond the next inning.

“We played 2 1/2 games well this tournament,” Costa Mesa Coach Jim Kiefer said.

Elliot, who pitched five innings for the win, said it was easy to come out and pitch with a nine-run lead.

“It’s a lot easier. It takes the pressure off,” he said.

With the conclusion of the Beach Pit Classic, both teams will get a short break before resuming league play.

Corona del Mar will travel to Beckman for a Pacific Coast League game Tuesday at 3:15 p.m.

Costa Mesa’s next game is April 20 at Orange in Golden West League play.