Baseball: Pacific Coast League edges Sea View League

Tony Altobelli

IRVINE - In a game saturated with Newport-Mesa high school baseball

standouts, the Pacific Coast League All-Stars edged the Sea View League

All-Stars, 6-4, at Saturday’s fifth annual South County Showcase, held at

Windrow Park.

With 12 PCL standouts from Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa and Estancia

high schools and four Newport Harbor standouts on Sea View’s side of the

field, there were plenty of heroes on both sides of the field.

It was the Sea Kings who got the PCL’s offense going early. In the top

of the first inning, Dave Knecht led off with a double to right-center

and Wes Hockinson followed by taking a slow curve ball off the side of

his helmet, putting runners on first and second with nobody out.

After University’s Jay Nichols moved the runners up with a grounder,

CdM’s Eric Snell drove a triple in to the right-center field gap, scoring

his CdM teammates.

Another Sea Kinger, Andrew Johns, brought in Snell with a sacrifice

fly to center and the PCL led, 3-0.

“The CdM kids had prom to go to, so we stuffed all of them in the

beginning of the game,” CdM Coach John Emme said of his brilliant

coaching strategy.

After a shaky first inning, Newport Harbor’s Joel Brown worked a 1-2-3

second inning and was relieved by Sailor teammate Chris Ward, who pitched

two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

The Sea View League cut the lead to 3-2 in the third inning. After

Irvine’s Chad Hazlett singled to right, Newport’s Alan Lane followed up

with a single of his own. Two batters later, Travis Otott of Irvine

ripped a double to score two runs.

It was a matter of missed opportunities for the Sea View League, which

left 14 runners on base in the nine-inning contest.

The game remained 3-2 before the Sea View League tied the score in the

seventh when Laguna Hills standout Brian Anderson reached on a fielder’s

choice, advanced two bases on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball.

That momentum was short-lived, however as the PCL answered right back

in the top of the eighth.

Costa Mesa’s Daniel Hunter (1 for 2) reached base on an infield single

and advanced to third on a double by Estancia’s Armando Ortiz. The local

duo came around to score on a triple by Nichols, who would eventually

score on an RBI grounder by Laguna Beach’s John Verdugo.

“I was a genius for letting Nichols swing with a 3-0 count, huh?” Emme

said jokingly. “That’s just more brilliant coaching on my part.”

Despite giving up a ninth-inning run, Costa Mesa’s Carlos Franco

managed to close out the ninth inning after playing all nine positions

during the game.

Other locals who took part in the all-star gathering include Newport’s

Garrett Brant (0 for 2), Costa Mesa’s Josh Feldman (0 for 1) and Steven

Shores (0 for 2, two putouts at third base), Estancia’s Brent Davis (0

for 2, four innings at catcher) and CdM’s Rory McKeever (0 for 1) and

Cavan Cuyler.

SOUTH COUNTY SHOWCASE

Pacific Coast 6, Sea View 4

Pacific Coast 300 000 030 - 6 8 4

Sea View 002 000 101 - 4 12 1

Snell, Stoneking (3), Verdugo (5), Horner (7), Dy-Buncio (8), Franco

(9) and McKeever, Davis (3), Hunter (5), Davis (7), Franco (8), Davis

(9); Brown, Ward (3), Difley (5), Smith (7), Miller (8), Hazlett (9) and

Brant, DeVries (5). W - Horner. L - Miller. Sv - Franco. 2B - Knecht

(PCL), Ortiz (PCL), Otott (SVL), de Vries (SVL). 3B - Snell (PCL),

Nichols (PCL).