Prep baseball: Sailors learn lesson one

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - High school baseball teams don’t get the benefit of

spring training. So, Newport Harbor High Coach Jim Kiefer will be patient

while half his starting lineup learns on the job in the early going.

The first lesson of this education came Friday, when visiting Temecula

Valley rallied for an 8-3 win in the first round of the North Orange

County Classic.

“We were successful in some areas and not successful in others, but

overall, I thought today was a positive,” said Kiefer of his fifth season

opener at Harbor.

As expected, returning All-Sea View League and All-Newport-Mesa District

seniors Scott Beerer and Nick Langsdorf keyed an offense which posted two

runs in its first crack at junior right-hander Ronnie Hill.

After senior Miguel Sandoval singled with one out and stole second,

Langsdorf ripped a triple past a diving left fielder to put the Sailors

on top. Beerer followed with an RBI single, but Hill settled down,

allowing just three hits the rest of the way.

After senior left-hander starter Justin McCarthy held the Bears scoreless

in his two innings, the visitors tied it with two runs in the third and

scored in each of their final four at-bats to send the Sailors into

today’s 11 a.m. consolation-bracket game against the Inglewood-Paramount

loser at a site to be determined.

Langsdorf and Beerer each went 2 for 2 and reached base four times.

Beerer’s RBI single in the third gave Harbor its final run. Langsdorf

also dived to stab a soft line drive to help limit one Temecula rally,

and made a nice backhand scoop on a low throw to end the Bears’ seventh.

Alan Lane started singled to round out the Tars’ six-hit attack.

Sophomore lefty Cody Forsythe, Lane and Sandoval followed McCarthy to the

mound for the hosts and Kiefer had praise for Forsythe’s varsity debut.

“I thought he competed well. He gave us a strong (one-two-three) third

inning and held his own in the (two-run) fourth, when the game could have

gotten away from us.”

Junior catcher Garrett Brant, stepping in for graduated four-year varsity

starter Charlie Waite (now at Mississippi), also impressed. He picked a

runner off second base and consistently blocked pitches in the dirt.

Beerer, expected to be the Tars’ top pitcher, would have started,

according to Kiefer. But Beerer has been nursing a sore back and Kiefer

said he won’t rush him the mound. Kiefer said Beerer may not pitch until

the Sea View League season opens.

Newport had three hit batters and three walks, but stranded nine.

Hill threw 115 pitches, before losing control in the seventh, when he was

pulled just one out away from a complete game.

Six of Temecula’s eight hits were doubles, including two apiece by Luke

Watson and Derek Merrell.

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

North Orange County Classic

First round

Temecula Valley 000 231 2 - 8 8 0

Newport Harbor 200 010 0 - 3 6 1

Hill, Garcia (7) and Watson; McCarthy, Forsythe (3), Lane (5), Sandoval

(6) and Brant. W - Hill, 1-0. L - Lane, 0-1. 2B- Watson (TV) 2, Pyles

(TV), Locklin (TV), Merrell (TV) 2. 3B - Langsdorf (NH).