Baseball: CdM shows no mercy

Tony Altobelli

CORONA DEL MAR - The phrase, “mercy rule” perhaps has never been so

understated then in Corona del Mar High’s 17-0 thumping of Los

Angeles-based Cathedral High in the first round of the CIF Southern

Section Division IV baseball playoffs Friday afternoon.

“Needless to say, I’m glad we won the coin flip,” Coach John Emme said,

referring to the traffic-ladened commute from school to school. “You

spend a couple of hours on the road stuck in traffic, you come to play on

a field you’ve never seen before, there’s a couple hundred fans waiting

for you and most of them aren’t wearing your school colors. It can be

rather intimidating.”

So can 17 runs in three innings. That’s what the Sea Kings managed to

tack up on the scoreboard off an array of Cathedral pitchers.

Keeping the Phantoms at bay was junior pitcher Cavan Cuyler, who allowed

only one hit over four innings, retiring the last 10 batters he faced.

“We noticed early that Cathedral was aggressive early in the count,” Emme

said. “So the strength for Cavan was not only throwing early strikes, but

throwing strikes in good locations.”

CdM (14-11) added to their already-impressive total of stolen bases to

manufacture a first-inning run. With two outs, Billy Eagle reached with a

single to right, stole second, advanced to third on a wild throw from the

Phantoms’ third baseman and scored on an infield hit from a hustling Eric

Snell.

The Sea Kings swiped five more bases Friday, bringing their total to 103

in 25 games.

“It’s so nice to be able to field a team where they force the other team

to make plays against them,” Emme said. “It really puts the pressure on

the other team, that’s for sure.”

The merry-go-round started for the Sea Kings in the second, scoring six

runs on five hits, partnered with a couple more Cathedral (12-10) errors.

Snell, Dave Knecht, Andrew Johns and Wes Hockinson each had RBI hits in

that frame.

Cuyler did his job following the six-run second inning, throwing only 10

pitches to retire the Phantoms in order in the third.

“He threw 43 pitches all game,” Emme said. “That’s not a start, that’s a

bullpen. That will give us three solid starters

From there, the Sea Kings sent 15 batters to the plate, scoring 10 more

times. The biggest hit came from junior Dustin Hatfield, who lined a

bases-loaded double into the left-center field gap, clearing the bases.

The final four spots in the Sea Kings batting order, in 13 plate

appearances, reached base 12 times, had eight hits and scored 11 runs.

Offensively, Andrew Johns had three hits, while Alex Swanson, Wes

Hockinson, Snell, Knecht and Eagle each chipped in with two hits.

Next up for the Sea Kings is Western, which posted the most stunning of

first-round results by defeating top-seeded La Quinta, 6-3.

Round two is set for Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Western High.

CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION IV PLAYOFFS

First round

Corona del Mar 17, Cathedral 0

Cathedral 00 0 00 - 0 2 3

Corona del Mar 16(10) 0x - 17 15 0

Cuyler, Snell (5) and McKeever, Vidales, Navarro (2), Cantero (3), Silva

(3), Ramos (4) and Elias. W - Cuyler, 6-2. L - Vidales. 2B - Hockinson

(CdM), Hatfield (CdM).