Prep baseball: Newport stays perfect, 6-2

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Harbor High baseball team tugged closer

to its second tournament title in Coach Jim Kiefer’s five seasons with a

6-2 Foothill-Costa Mesa Tournament semifinal win Thursday over visiting

Bolsa Grande.

And, most encouraging to Kiefer, almost everyone on the 3-0 Sailors’

roster has had their hands on the rope.

“In our three games, every guy has contributed,” Kiefer said. “And

that’s a good sign.”

The Sailors, who will visit Costa Mesa Saturday at 10 a.m. in the

title game, got hits from seven players against the Matadors (2-1), while

the other two spots in the order each produced an RBI.

After Bolsa took a 2-0 first-inning lead, Harbor scored single runs in

the second, third, fourth and fifth, before adding two in the sixth.

The Tars’ 12-hit attack was more than enough for junior left-hander

Cody Forsythe, who pitched his first varsity complete game to become the

third Newport pitcher with a victory this spring.

Forsythe, who gave up singles to the first three hitters he faced,

settled down to allow just three singles the rest of the way. He allowed

only one earned run, striking out five and walking only one. He threw an

economical 78 pitches, including 52 strikes and 15 first-pitch strikes.

“That’s his game,” Kiefer said of Forsythe, whose fifth-inning double

was among five extra-base hits for the hosts.

Senior catcher Garrett Brant went 3 for 4 with an RBI to improve to 8

for 12 (.667), with four doubles and four RBIs, for the season.

Alan Lane, Jim Erickson and Chris Ward all had two hits apiece and one

of Ward’s cleared the left-field fence.

FOOTHILL-COSTA MESA TOURNAMENT

Semifinal

Newport Harbor 6, Bolsa Grande 2

Bolsa Grande 200 000 0 - 2 6 0

Newport Harbor 011 112 x - 6 12 1 Vanhorn, Ashmore (4) and A. Rodriguez; Forsythe and Brant. W -

Forsythe, 1-0. L - Vanhorn, 1-1. 2B - Wong (NH), Erickson (NH), Forsythe

(NH), Brant (NH). HR - Ward (NH).