HIGH SCHOOLS:Friends go from diamond to desert

The best friends from separate teams decided to hit the desert.

In the four days off during spring break, Corona del Mar High’s Austin Elliott said he and Costa Mesa’s Garrick Williams went to Palm Springs to relax and celebrate Elliott’s 18th birthday.

After playing in four baseball games during the four-day Beach Pit Classic, it was much-needed time off for the two seniors, who have been friends since age 7.

Elliott pitched a complete-game shutout, hit a home run, and drove in three runs to help the Sea Kings to a runner-up finish. Williams contributed to the Mustangs’ fifth-place showing by clubbing a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning, and he hit .500 with two doubles and five RBIs.

Their respective coaches were satisfied with their players’ performances during the competitive 16-team tournament won by San Clemente. And that the seniors got away before each team makes a push for the playoffs with four weeks left before the regular season ends.

“We have four days to get healthy,” said Corona del Mar Coach John Emme after his team lost to San Clemente, 5-1, in the tournament title game Wednesday. “We’re going to take four days off and forget about baseball, and come back and try to win this [Pacific Coast] league.”

The Sea Kings (13-4, 5-1 in league) are in control of defending the PCL title. The eighth-ranked program in CIF Southern Section Division III leads Laguna Hills and Beckman, which are both .500 in league play. The next four league contests will be critical for the Sea Kings as they play the two teams chasing them. League play for CdM resumes today at home against Beckman at 3:15 p.m., and CdM will play at Beckman Friday.

The following week, the Sea Kings face Laguna Hills in home and away games.

“We’ve just got to swing the bats and not play down to our opposition,” said Elliott, a pitcher and outfielder. “Beckman is a team we should beat. [The Patriots] almost had us our first game we played them [CdM won, 3-2] because I think we played down to their level.

“We just have to silence their bats.”

Opposing pitchers during the tournament practically failed to quiet Costa Mesa’s bats.

The Mustangs hit eight home runs, 10 doubles, one triple, and scored 44 runs. The hitting barrage began in the third game against Beckman, when they smashed a season-high five homers and won, 20-6.

The next day against Aliso Niguel, Williams’ two-run home run that gave Costa Mesa an 11-9 lead in the sixth was the last of three for the Mustangs in the game.

It was Williams’ first home run of the season and it allowed Costa Mesa (11-7) to double its home run total of eight going into the tournament.

After Costa Mesa’s win, Williams went to Corona del Mar to watch his buddy Elliott play in the championship against San Clemente.

The support didn’t help the Sea Kings’ cause, as they lost. But Williams and Elliott sure had a lot to talk about on the road trip to the desert.

FRESHMEN FIRSTS

With tournament play and having to compete on consecutive days, teams usually call up pitchers from their lower levels to help out with innings.

Costa Mesa right-hander Tyler Peterson and Newport Harbor left-hander Dillan Freiberg, both freshmen, delivered solid pitching performances in their varsity starting debuts.

Peterson picked up the victory after striking out six, allowing four runs and seven hits in six innings as the Mustangs’ beat Greeley West of Colorado, 8-4, in the opening round of the Beach Pit Classic.

Peterson’s outing took Costa Mesa out of a funk in which it had dropped three of its previous four games heading into the tournament.

Freiberg lasted four innings in a semifinal contest against Back Bay rival Corona del Mar. But with no offensive support, he suffered the loss as the defending tournament champion Sailors fell, 5-0. It was the second time this season CdM has beaten Newport Harbor.

Freiberg allowed four hits — two of them solo home runs — walked one, and hit one batter.

“This is a pretty heavy environment to throw him into, and he responded,” said Coach Evan Chalmers, whose Sailors (5-12) went on to lose the third-place game to third-ranked South Hills of West Covina, 5-0. “If you told me that we were going to go into the fifth inning down, 2-0, with Freiberg on the hill, I would’ve taken it. That’s very encouraging in the long run.

“I think he’s going to pitch a quite a few innings for us in years to come.”

RYBARCZYK ROARS

Costa Mesa designated hitter John Rybarczyk hit three home runs, drove in four runs, scored 10 runs, and went five for 11 during the Beach Pit Classic.

Rybarczyk, who last year as a junior hit three home runs, leads Newport-Mesa hitters with eight home runs. The Vanguard-bound senior leads the Mustangs with a .420 batting average, 24 RBIs and 20 runs.

AMES BOLSTERS SAILORS

The Newport Harbor boys’ lacrosse team received a boost when Cory Ames returned Friday after being out with a broken wrist suffered in the season opener.

Ames recorded a hat trick in the Sailors’ 10-3 Sunset League victory against Marina, helping Newport Harbor improve to 6-3, 4-1 in league.