Prep baseball: CdM moves into semis

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - Symbolic of the Corona del Mar High baseball

team’s recent passage toward the light, the sun broke through the morning

marine layer about midway into the Sea Kings’ eight-inning Pride of the

Coast Tournament quarterfinal battle with visiting Mission Viejo Monday.

Indeed, bright sunshine appears to have enveloped Coach John Emme’s

reigning Pacific Coast League champions, who rallied from deficits of 3-0

and 6-2, led briefly, then broke a tie on yet another clutch hit to claim

an 8-7 victory over the highly regarded Diablos.

The win propels CdM into today’s 11 a.m. semifinal home matchup with

Mountain View.

Senior Billy Eagle capped the Sea Kings’ fourth straight victory with

an RBI double to right-center field, plating sophomore Jeritt Thayer, who

accepted the first of consecutive walks to open the inning.

Though Eagle was mobbed by his teammates afterward, there were plenty

of heroes for the hosts, not the least of which was the diminutive

Thayer, who pitched in with his glove and his bat.

Thayer, part of a bottom third of the order that produced four hits,

five RBIs and also scored three times, made game-saving defensive plays

in the first and sixth innings.

“Jeritt can flat-out glove it,” said CdM Coach John Emme, who has long

heralded the defensive ability of his nimble second baseman.

Thayer’s first big defensive play came with runners at second and

third with two outs in the first. Breaking to second on a pickoff play,

Thayer went to one knee and somehow swatted down an errant one-hop throw

from the mound. Thayer then recorded the third out by swallowing up a

ground ball to second and the Sea Kings dodged the first of several

bullets.

After the Sea Kings (6-7) had taken their first lead, 7-6, in the

fifth, a dropped fly ball put the potential go-ahead run at second base

with one out for Mission Viejo in the sixth.

Mission’s Taylor Holiday grounded a past the pitcher that appeared

headed toward center field, when Thayer dived to his right to backhand

the ball behind the bag. Already having saved the run at that point,

Thayer sprang to his knees and threw to first in time to nail Holiday for

the second out.

Kyle Mura followed with an RBI single to knot the score, but sophomore

Josh Bradbury worked out of the jam and retired seven of the final eight

he faced to pick up his first varsity victory.

The two-base error led to the only run (unearned) Mission posted off

Bradbury, who surrendered just three hits in five relief innings.

“Josh had struggled on the mound earlier this year, but he was awesome

today,” Emme said.

While Bradbury shut down the Diablos’ offense, CdM kept chipping away,

adding incrementally to a 14-hit attack divided among seven players.

“We had a lot of clutch hits,” Emme said. “And we had a lot of two-out

hits to drive in runs.”

A Todd Macklin single and a fielder’s choice grounder by Ryan Rhodes

plated the first two CdM runs, drawing the hosts to within 3-2 after two

innings.

After Mission Viejo scored three earned runs in the third to match the

three unearned runs it posted in the second, junior shortstop Keith Long

led off a fourth-inning CdM rally with a single.

Long stole second and, after a flyout and a walk, scored on an RBI

double by Rhodes. Thayer’s groundout plated the second run of the inning

and freshman right fielder Wess Presson lashed his third hit to score

Rhodes and make it 6-5.

With two outs in the CdM fifth, Long, Blake Contant, Macklin and

Rhodes sprayed consecutive singles, the latter two for RBIs, to put the

hosts up, 7-6.

Presson went 3 for 3 with a walk and a hit by pitch, while Long was 3

for 3 with a sacrifice. Nike Karpe, Macklin (two RBIs) and Rhodes (three

RBIs) added two hits apiece for the winners.

“That was a very nice ballgame,” Emme said. “That was as well as we’ve

played all year.”

PRIDE OF THE COAST TOURNAMENT

Championship quarterfinal

Corona del Mar 8, Mission Viejo 7

Mission Viejo 033 001 00 - 7 6 0

Corona del Mar 020 320 01 - 8 14 2

Hanson, Bennett (4), Jones (6), Beyer (8) and Brennan; Stockstill,

Bradbury (4) and Karpe. W - Bradbury, 1-0. L - Beyer, 0-2. 2B - R. Rhodes

(CdM), Eagle (CdM), Beyer (MV). HR - Mura (MV).