PREP WRAPUP : Top 2 Clash: El Segundo Defeats St. Bernard, 13-4

In only a year and a half, the El Segundo-St. Bernard baseball series has become one of the South Bay’s most entertaining and heated prep rivalries.

Friday night’s showdown at Recreation Park in El Segundo had a little of everything: big hits, great plays, finger-pointing, taunting and the ejection of a star player.

There’s never a dull moment when these two teams meet.

So far, though, it’s been a one-sided affair. El Segundo’s 13-4 victory gave the Eagles a 3-0 edge over St. Bernard, which had been top dog in the Camino Real League before El Segundo joined the league last year and ended the Vikings’ three-season reign as champion.

St. Bernard was determined to regain its No. 1 spot Friday night. The Vikings came out pumping their fists and swinging their bats, opening a 2-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back home runs by Sean Dunbar and Jeff Richardson. Both homers cleared the 320-foot sign in center field.

“They definitely got our attention,” El Segundo Coach John Stevenson said.

First impressions are fine. But El Segundo made the lasting one, hammering St. Bernard ace pitcher Andy Diver for 14 hits, including three home runs, en route to an easy victory that forced a three-way tie for first place between El Segundo, St. Bernard and St. Anthony, all at 6-1.

El Segundo, ranked No. 1 in The Times’ South Bay Top 10, improved to 13-2 overall, while No. 2 St. Bernard slipped to 10-2.

Afterward, St. Bernard Coach Bob Yarnall said his team may have been too psyched up. Diver, who took a 5-0 record and 1.09 earned-run average into the game, struggled with his control after the first inning, and Richardson, the Vikings’ top hitter with .500 average, was ejected in the third for trying to pull the ball out of El Segundo shortstop Mark Lewis’ glove after a hard tag at second base.

“We lost control emotionally,” Yarnall said. “I think everybody was tired in the second inning because we were too wound up at the start of the game.”

El Segundo held a 5-3 lead at that point after scoring five runs in the second on five hits, three walks and two errors. Eric Stevenson, the coach’s son, highlighted the inning by drilling an 0-2 pitch through the left side of the infield with the bases loaded to drive in two runs.

Garret Quaintance’s long home run and Brett Newell’s two-run single highlighted a three-run third as El Segundo opened an 8-3 lead.

From there, St. Bernard never got closer than four runs. Quaintance led off the fourth with another deep home run to left-center field, and the Eagles added four runs in the fifth, highlighted by Lewis’ three-run homer to right.

Seefried was the beneficiary of his team’s offensive exploits, improving his record to 5-0. The right-hander settled down nicely after a rocky start, allowing eight hits, striking out eight and walking one.

By comparison, Diver (5-1) walked six and struck out only one.

Coach Stevenson admitted that El Segundo may have been looking ahead to Friday night’s game when it lost to St. Anthony, 4-3, on Thursday.

Stevenson said that won’t be a problem when St. Anthony visits Recreation Park on May 9. And it certainly won’t be a problem when El Segundo and St. Bernard meet again May 11 at Loyola Marymount University on the final day of the regular season.

The rematch could decide the league title.

El Segundo has scored 210 runs in 15 games, a pace that threatens the school season record of 308 set by the 1987 team and the Southern Section record of 343 set by Montclair Prep in 1981.

The Eagles have 10 regular-season games left: seven in league play and three in the San Luis Obispo Tournament, which begins Wednesday. And it’s likely El Segundo will play at least one 2-A Division playoff game.

Hawthorne’s injury-riddled boys track team had its nine-year league winning streak of 53 consecutive dual meets snapped Thursday in a 70-57 Bay League loss to host Beverly Hills.

The Cougars, who pulled out of Saturday’s prestigious Arcadia Invitational because of a mounting list of injuries, competed without top sprinters Chris Alexander and Erik Allen (hamstring injuries) and distance runner Marcelo Vizueta (leg injury).

Centennial has won only two Ocean League baseball games, but both have been impressive.

The Apaches opened league play by handing Culver City its only loss to date, and they improved to 2-3 on Friday by upsetting host Redondo, 4-3. The loss knocked the Sea Hawks into a three-way tie for second place with Mira Costa and West Torrance, all at 4-2.

Culver City (5-1) moved into undisputed first place with two hard-fought victories this week. The Centaurs used the one-hit, 13-strikeout pitching of left-hander Mauricio Estavil to edge Redondo, 1-0, on Thursday, and came back Friday to outlast host Mira Costa, 7-5, in nine innings.

It was originally reported that Estavil had thrown a no-hitter, but Culver City changed the scoring after Estavil said a disputed error in the seventh inning against the Centaurs’ right fielder should have been ruled a hit for Redondo’s Bobby Tassin.

A team to watch in the Ocean League is South Torrance. The Spartans (3-3) beat Morningside, 16-2, Friday for their third straight league triumph.