Prep baseball: Driven to distraction

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - You know it wasn’t a good day at the ol’ ballyard

when you wind up in a postgame dispute with a bus driver and you were the

home team.

Such was the case Tuesday for Corona del Mar High baseball coach John

Emme, who had a pointed exchange with the driver that transported

Northwood to and from its 14-4 Pacific Coast League triumph at the Sea

Kings’ diamond.

Emme took exception to some late-inning commentary by bus driver Russ

Bartlett, who, parked about 15 feet from the backstop, used his hand

radio system -- broadcasting from his vehicle like a public address

microphone -- to cheer on the Timberwolves as they pulled away in a game

tied 4-4 through four innings.

Emme had plenty to be frustrated about, as his team, which came in

having won five of its last six, committed four errors and managed just

two hits.

Northwood (8-8, 4-2 in league), which came in having lost four of its

last five, posted four unearned runs on Andrew Morrison’s two-out grand

slam to take a 9-4 lead in the sixth. The T-wolves then beat up on CdM

relievers for five more runs in the seventh to claim their second victory

in as many games with CdM this spring.

“The bus driver was the exclamation point on this one,” Emme said

afterward. “Hopefully, he’ll be having to find some new employment.”

Emme appeared equally exasperated about the play of his team, which

made a pair of throwing errors to help the visitors post three runs in

the first and another in the fourth.

CdM (7-8, 2-4), however, answered back to tie it both times. A hit

batsman and three consecutive walks, the fourth giving Nick Karpe an RBI,

were followed by an RBI groundout by Keith Long and an RBI single by Todd

Macklin to bring the Sea Kings even in the first.

A Josh Bradbury sacrifice fly, actually a liner to left, plated Jeritt

Thayer, who reached to lead off the second on an error, and CdM entered

the third on even terms.

Things stayed that way as CdM starter Nick Rhodes and Northwood hurler

Thomas Gray held things scoreless in the third and fourth.

But a two-out error led to a Northwood run in the fifth and Gray

continued his dominance as the T-wolves kept on scoring.

“(Gray) did a nice job,” Emme said of the 6-foot-5 right-hander’s

complete-game two-hitter, which evened his record at 2-2. “He started

mixing in a changeup late in the game.”

A Blake Contant double was the only CdM hit after the first inning.

After Contant’s opposite-field gapper to left-center, however, Gray

retired 13 of the final 15 hitters to help his team remain in the title

chase.

The decision pushed the Sea Kings further away from one of the

league’s three guaranteed CIF Southern Section playoff spots, but Emme

isn’t panicking just yet.

“I wouldn’t tell the kids this, but, deep down, I would have been fine

with a split this week,” said Emme, whose team visits Northwood Friday at

3:15. “We just need to take care of business Friday and get our sweep.

That’s going to be a big one.”

Northwood’s Stanford-bound shortstop Chris Lewis, who hit three homers

in the first game against CdM, had just one hit, a first-innng single.

But he did reach all five trips, including an intentional walk to set the

stage for Morrison’s slam.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Northwood 14, Corona del Mar 4

Northwood 310 014 5 - 14 14 2 Corona del Mar 310 000 0 - 4 2 4

Gray and Gragnano; N. Rhodes, Stockstill (7), Dunzer (7) and Karpe. W

- Gray, 2-2. L - N. Rhodes, 2-5. 2B - Contant (CdM). HR - Morrison (N).