Prep baseball: CdM outlasts Mesa in PCL showdown

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - The Corona del Mar High dugout exploded onto the field

and Sea King parents hugged one another in the stands, while Costa Mesa

players slinked inconsolably toward their dugout after the final out of

CdM’s 5-4, nine-inning Pacific Coast League baseball victory Friday at

the Mustangs’ diamond.

Indeed this seesaw showdown for PCL supremacy between Newport-Mesa

District rivals who combined forces last summer on one Connie Mack team,

played out more like the seventh game of the World Series than the fifth

game of the league campaign.

“It definitely ranks right up there with the (Newport) Harbor game, (a

16-15 Sea View League victory for CdM in 1999),” Sea Kings Coach John

Emme said. “It was just a good, clean, hard-fought battle.”

Bearing signs of mental and physical fatigue, Emme was asked if he was

ready to head home and sleep it off.

“Go to bed?,” he quipped, “I’m going to retire. They never quit and we

never quit.”

Though disappointed to have fallen 1 1/2 games back of the first place

Sea Kings (8-3, 5-0 in league), Costa Mesa Coach Kirk Bauermeister was

pleased with the competitive energy spent by his Mustangs (8-2-1, 3-1-1).

“This is the way a first-place game should be,” Bauermeister said. “We

played well, but they just made one or two more plays than we did. We

were one play away.”

It was CdM who made the plays early, building a 4-0 lead behind senior

right-hander Cavan Cuyler.

Eric Snell’s two-run home run in the first opened the cushion, which

doubled when a Snell groundout and a single by Andrew Johns drove in two

more runs in the third.

Cuyler, who defeated Costa Mesa twice as a junior, took a no-hitter

into the fifth inning, despite battling some early control problems.

But Mesa’s Michael McGuire opened the fifth with a single and, one out

later, Antony Grubisich launched a two-run homer over the left-field

fence to spark life into the home dugout.

Mesa, ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section Division IV poll, one

spot ahead of the Sea Kings, stranded two more runners in the seventh

inning to stay within striking distance. CdM left 10 men on in through

seven, including the bases loaded in the fourth.

McGuire and Mike Armstrong walked to open Mesa’s seventh and McGuire

scored on Billy Halverson’s one-out double off the left-field fence.

Leadoff man Josh Feldman followed with a bloop single to tie the game and

Nick Cabico reached on an error to push the potential winning run to

third.

With the bases loaded, Daniel Hunter lofted a fly ball to right field,

which Dave Knecht fielded while moving toward the plate, where he threw a

strike in time to nail the runner tagging from third.

The dramatic double play, CdM’s second of the game, forced extra

innings and typified the tension that enveloped the contest for nearly

three hours.

After both teams were retired in order in the eighth, CdM’s Billy

Eagle opened the ninth with a double into the right-center field gap. One

out later, Andrew Johns lined an RBI single into left to give the Sea

Kings another lead. It was the second RBI of the game for Johns, who went

3 for 5 and also made several sterling defensive plays at first base. It

was also the second game-winning hit of the week for the senior

All-Newport-Mesa District returner, who singled in two runs in the sixth

inning Tuesday to cap a 6-5 win over two-time defending league champion

University.

Mesa, however, stopped the bleeding and loaded the bases with no outs

in its next at-bat.

Armstrong walked, Grubisich reached on an error when a CdM fielder

slipped while trying to field his sacrifice bunt attempt, and Halverson

walked to heap even more pressure on Snell, who came on in relief to

start the eighth.

But Snell and his teammates coolly worked out of the jam to retain

sole possession of the league lead.

Johns fielded a grounder and threw home for the first out, then Eagle

fielded a fly to center not deep enough to tag up on for the second out.

With the Mustangs’ hottest hitter at the plate, Snell earned his third

strikeout to gain his second victory in as many decisions.

“It was tough with the bases loaded with no outs,” Snell said. “But I

just tried to throw strikes and trust my team to make plays behind me.”

Cabico, who had not allowed an earned run coming in 17 innings heading

into this game, was charged with three in five quality innings. Jeremiah

Haubrick worked three innings of scoreless relief to keep the Mustangs in

it.

Feldman finished with two of Mesa’s six hits, while Eagle and Derrick

Lewis had two hits apiece for the winners.

Eagle also scored three times in a game both teams are sure to

remember when they renew their rivalry with two games the final week of

the regular season (May 7 at CdM and May 9 at TeWinkle Park).

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Corona del Mar 5, Costa Mesa 4

Corona del Mar 202 000 001 - 5 12 4

Costa Mesa 000 020 200 - 4 6 4

Cuyler, Rhodes (7), Snell (8) and McKeever; Cabico, Haubrick (6),

Franco (9) and Hunter. W - Snell, 2-0. L - Franco, 2-1. 2B - Halverson

(CM), Eagle (CdM). HR - Snell (CdM), Grubisich (CM).