Little League: Braves don’t look past Mariners

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - If the Braves were to have any shot at first place in

the Mustang division they knew they would have to take care of the

Mariners. The Braves, a Newport Harbor Baseball Association team, watched

the Cubs upset the first-place Dodgers which set the scenario for their

game.

Manager Tim Davey’s Braves then survived a Mariners’ rally, but won,

8-6, at Kaiser Elementary. The battle for first place will now take place

Wednesday when the Braves take on those Dodgers at Kaiser at 5 p.m.

“The effort on defense was very strong,” said Braves Coach Ty

Peterson, who credited the efforts of pitcher Nick Svendsen for supreme

defense and Blake Davey’s bat on offense.

Svendsen struck out nine of the 12 batters he faced in the final three

innings and Blake Davey went 2 for 3 with two triples, an RBI and a walk.

The Mariners nearly came back in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Adrian Rodriguez, or as his teammates call him, “A-Rod,” slammed a

two-run double. But, Svendsen struck out the next three batters to end

the game.

“It was a lot of fun to see,” Mariners Manager Kurt Jaye said of his

team’s mini-rally. “This league is not about winning. It’s about teaching

kids how to play and have fun. They had fun. They were scoring and that’s

the Braves’ best pitcher (Svendsen).”

The Braves took control early with three runs in the first. Blake

Davey smacked his first triple for an RBI and Svendsen picked up another

RBI with his base hit. Chris Kubitsky also had an RBI.

The Mariners responded with two runs when Bryce Fuller’s base hit

brought in Joshua Jaye and Rodriguez.

On defense, Rodriguez completed a spectacular play. In the second

inning, after the Braves scored another three runs, Rodriguez, the

shortstop, dove for a grounder, rose quickly to his feet and threw the

runner out at first. He put out three grounders in the inning, the final

out with the bases loaded.

But, the Braves’ Wesley Woods, Jake Caughill and Alex Arthur did the

damage as they scored the three runs to give their team a 6-2 lead.

Brett Ollinger started at pitcher for the Braves and went the first

two innings. The right-hander struck out three and had a perfect second

inning. Coby Peterson then took over for one inning before Svendsen came

on.

Darren Leggett, Rodriguez and Joshua Jaye worked as pitchers two

innings each for the Mariners. Leggett induced six groundouts and

Rodriguez recorded six strikeouts. Joshua Jaye closed the game out as he

struck out five and did not allow a hit.

NEWPORT HARBOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION

Mustang Division

The Braves

14 Brett Ollinger

18 Coby Peterson 15 Blake Davey

20 Nick Svendsen

12 Zack Sprague

17 Chris Kubitsky

22 Garrett Weigel

21 Wesley Woods

13 Jake Caughill 19 Alex Arthur

Manager: Tim Davey

Coaches: Bob Svendsen and Ty Peterson

The Mariners

6 Adrian Rodriguez

11 Joshua Jaye

5 Darren Leggett

2 Parker Norton

3 Keegan Jakosky

9 Garrett Morgan

4 Bryce Fuller

8 Zachary Chocek

7 Macky Gautschi

10 Sean MacInnis 1 Spencer Martinez

Manager: Kurt Jaye

Coach: Kirk Norton