Prep baseball: Lightning’s big inning leads to huge win

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT COAST - With a 10-run first inning, sound defense and

intimidating pitching from Zack Friedrichs, the Sage Hill High baseball

team opened its inaugural Spring Classic tournament with a 14-9 victory

over Fairmont Prep Thursday.

The Lightning (4-5) used 16 at-bats in that first inning and took

advantage of four errors, which led to three unearned runs in a game that

was called after 5 1/2 innings because of the tournament time limit of

two hours.

Sage Hill sophomore Matt Kornswiet scored on a passed ball to make it

4-0, and sophomore Ray Lim was walked to bring in another run for a 5-0

lead. The Fairmont starting pitcher walked three of the first four

batters (Jordan Salinger, Matt Loper and Tim Wilkins) he faced and walked

three more (Lim, Chris Chiboucas and Kornswiet) before the inning ended.

With the bases loaded, junior third baseman Cliff Swanson ripped a

single to left-center field, which scored Friedrichs and Loper for the

Lightning’s first runs. Salinger, a sophomore first baseman, also picked

up two RBIs in the first inning, when he sent a base hit to the gap in

right-center field, bringing in Lim and sophomore Peter Haderlein, for an

8-0 lead. Friedrichs, who slammed an RBI triple in the fourth inning,

chipped a base hit to score Salinger, and Friedrichs later scored on an

error to end the first-inning scoring.

“That was our biggest inning this season,” said Sage Hill Coach Chris

Torino. “We hit the ball well and (Fairmont’s) errors really helped us. I

was really impressed with the way Zack pitched. That was the most

velocity I’ve seen from him. We decided to move him out (after two

innings) to save him for the rest of the tournament.”

Friedrichs threw 34 pitches to produce two scoreless innings, which

included striking out three out of the eight batters he faced. The

Huskies (4-5) responded when Friedrichs moved to second base in the third

inning and scored five runs to cut the lead in half, 10-5. Sage Hill held

Fairmont at bay, scoring a pair of runs in the third and fourth.

Friedrichs scored in each of the innings, while Swanson crossed the plate

in the third and Salinger tallied another run in the fourth. Wilkins’

sacrifice fly to center field scored Friedrichs in the fourth.

“We played a good defensive game,” Friedrichs said. “I wasn’t

surprised when (Torino) pulled me. I want to pitch again later, maybe in

the semifinals or the finals.”

Sage Hill will play for the right to advance to the semifinals, today

at 9 a.m. when the Lightning takes on St. Michael’s at Sage Hill. The

Sage Hill Classic will end Saturday, with one semifinal at 10:30, the

other at 1 p.m. and the championship game scheduled for 3:30.

SAGE HILL SPRING CLASSIC

Sage Hill 14, Fairmont Prep 9

Fairmont 0 05 301 - 9 8 6

Sage Hill (10)02 20x - 14 6 2

Hebein, Ethridge (1), Ko (5) and D. Rucker; Friedrichs, Loper (3) and

Kornswiet, Swanson (5). W - Friedrichs. L - Hebein. 2B - Ethridge (F). 3B

- J. Park (F), Friedrichs (SH).