Baseball: Diablos strong-arm Sailors, 9-0

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Checking out Mission Viejo High’s pitching staff,

you get the feeling you’re thumbing through Baseball America and reading

about top prospects.

Coach Jim Kiefer’s Newport Harbor Sailors got a good glimpse of the

Diablos’ hurlers Saturday in the opening round of the 16-team Pride of the Coast Tournament.

And, well, let’s just say the Tars are probably glad they don’t have

to face those arms anymore.

“Mission Viejo has a very good ballclub,” Kiefer said, following his

hosting team’s 9-0 setback to the Diablos (10-5-1), ranked 10th in Orange

County.

“They’re a well-deserving team to be in the county rankings, and they

pitched really well.”

Right-hander Garrett Murdy, the Diablos’ highly touted 6-foot-4,

215-pound senior pitching prospect, didn’t throw against the Sailors

(5-11), who lost their first non-Sea View League game of the season in

five starts.

But Murdy came up as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and turned

on a Chris Ward fastball for a two-run home run to cap the Diablos’

four-run frame, turning what was a close game (3-0 through five innings)

into a rout.

It was Murdy’s second at-bat of the season. “He’s just like that,”

Mission Viejo Coach Chris Ashbach said. “He either strikes out or hits a

home run. He knows his role (on the team as a starting pitcher and not an

everyday hitter). He just ran into a fastball. He’s a big, strong kid.”

After Mission Viejo junior left-hander Travis Herwehe tied the Sailors

in knots for 5 2/3 innings, freshman right-hander Chris Jones completed

the two-hit shutout for the Diablos, giving up no hits in his varsity

debut.

Jones, who also comes with size (6-2, 210) on the mound, brings his

fastball consistently in the 88-mph range and, despite being a freshman

who has never pitched varsity baseball, has drawn the attention of top

colleges.

“He has already received letters from USC,” Ashbach said. “I really

don’t know how (four-year colleges) find out about these kids.”

Ashbach has kept Jones on the JV this season so the pitching phenom

can swing the bat on a regular basis, “but arm- and velocity-wise, he’s

ready to pitch up here ... I’m excited,” added Ashbach, who doesn’t want

to put too much pressure on Jones, but grinned when asked about his

baseball future.

As far as Newport Harbor’s future is concerned, it will come Monday in

a consolation game against Santa Ana Valley at Newport Harbor at 11 a.m.

Pacifica defeated Valley, 10-8.

The Sailors’ only hits Saturday came in the first inning when Alan

Lane singled to right field and in the fifth when Cody Forsythe opened

with a single to center. The Tars never got a runner past second base.

“It was a good game for five-plus innings, but we didn’t get anything

going offensively, we didn’t cash in when we had the opportunities, and

we let the door open in the later innings,” Kiefer said.

Newport Harbor, which has struggled in league (2-9) and lost eight of

its last nine overall, had two runners aboard with nobody out in the

second, after Donovan Wong walked and Cameron Pemstein sacrificed him to

second and reached safely on a throwing error to first.

But Herwehe, a left-hander, caught the next Harbor hitter looking at

strike three and coaxed Lu Castillo and Forsythe into fly outs to end the

threat in a scoreless game.

Newport junior right-hander Shane Glenn, making his third start of the

campaign, was pulled after 3 2/3 innings, down only 2-0. After Glenn

walked the No. 9 hitter with first base open on a 3-2 changeup, Kiefer

came out with a hook and brought in left-hander Forsythe to face Mission

Viejo leadoff hitter David Hudgins, also a lefty.

The move backfired as Hudgins walked, but the Diablos finished the

fourth inning with only two runs and left the bases loaded against

Forsythe, who struck out No. 3 hitter Billy Hart to end the rally. Hart,

the center fielder who has signed with USC to play football, was Mission

Viejo’s leading hitter last season at .409 with 23 RBIs.

Mission will play Pacifica in the quarterfinals Monday at Newport at 2

p.m.

PRIDE OF THE COAST

Mission Viejo 9, Newport Harbor 0

Mission Viejo 001 202 4 - 9 12 2

Newport Harbor 000 000 0 - 0 2 2

Herwehe, Jones (6) and Brennan; Glenn, Forsythe (4), Ward (6) and

Brant. 2B - Hanson (MV) 2. HR - Murdy (MV).