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).
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