Prep baseball: CdM just a little short

Barry Faulkner

SANTA FE SPRINGS - Sure, there was the big inning -- more

specifically, the huge bases-loaded, sixth-inning triple that turned a

2-1 CdM advantage into an insurmountable 4-2 deficit at No. 3-seeded St.

Paul.

But it’s the little things Corona del Mar High baseball coach John

Emme will remember about the Sea Kings’ 5-2 CIF Southern Section Division

IV first-round loss Friday.

More importantly, Emme hopes his eight returning starters will

remember them too.

“That game should be videotaped and shown to Little Leaguers as to how

the little things can win a ballgame,” Emme said after his fifth straight

trip to the postseason ended with a flourish, but not without regret. “If

you don’t do the little things, it’s going to come back and bite you.”

The little things of which Emme speaks included a second-inning error

that led to an unearned run, a botched sacrifice bunt attempt in the

third inning, as well as a handful of other failures in RBI situations,

which resulted in seven stranded runners (three at third base) after St.

Paul took a 1-0 lead.

Emme also mentioned the ill-fated 1-2 pitch to Jimmy Salas with the

bases loaded and one out in the sixth. Salas, a St. Paul senior hitting

better than .500, crushed the wheelhouse offering, which Emme said was

about 14 inches away from its intended target, into the

right-center-field gap to clear the bases and push his season RBI total

to more than 40.

Emme, however, was more proud than disappointed in his team, which, he

said, displayed courage, focus and determination.

“There’s no blame here,” Emme said. “We played an excellent baseball

game and (the Swordsmen) just beat us. We’ve been trying to get the

message across all year to our guys about practicing and trying to

prepare to win. Hopefully, the guys we have coming back -- and there are

a lot of them -- will remember what inner switch they turned on today to

play the way they did. But, you just can’t show up for the playoffs with

that kind of intensity, after not having it all year.”

The Sea Kings were dialed in from the outset, as junior left-hander

Nick Rhodes continued his recent mound mastery through five innings.

Only the aforementioned error, a wild throw into right field on a

would-be force at second, helped the Swordsmen (22-8) avert zeros heading

into the sixth.

Rhodes surrendered just two hits with four strikeouts and no walks his

first five frames and wound up fanning five.

The Sea Kings (12-14) finally rewarded their ace with a pair of runs

in the fifth.

Freshman Wess Presson, who with 31 hits in his first varsity campaign

is perhaps the poster boy for the bright future the program possesses,

walked with one out to start the rally.

Presson stole second and came home on senior Billy Eagle’s RBI triple

into the spacious right-center gap.

Junior catcher Nick Karpe followed with a line drive to right to plate

Eagle and put the visitors on the verge of an upset.

St. Paul right fielder Thomas Tristen fielded the screamer on one

bounce, however, and threw Karpe out at first, robbing him of a hit and

quickly subduing the emotional thunder surging from the visiting dugout

and stands.

“Believe it or not, that may have been the biggest play of the game,”

St. Paul Coach Patrick Fitzsimons said of the single-turned 9-3 RBI

groundout. “That showed we were still in this thing, battling, even

though we had lost the lead.”

The Swordsmen battled back in the sixth. Steve Salas, a sophomore who

started on the mound, ripped his second single of the game to begin the

rally.

After a foul bunt for strike three produced the first out, a swinging

bunt went for an infield single. A low breaking ball hit the next hitter

to load the bases, setting the stage for Jimmy Salas.

“He’s been our best hitter all year and he has done a lot of damage

with two strikes,” Fitzsimons said.

After the three-run triple, Billy Griffith drove an RBI double into

the gap in right center for the final blow.

Sidearm reliever Casey Black, whose senior year included an early

season demotion to the junior varsity, pitched a perfect seventh to pick

up the win. He had gotten the final out in the sixth.

The loss ended what Emme called a phenomenal four-year varsity career

for Eagle, who figures to add a third All-CIF laurel to his prep resume.

Eagle, bound for UCLA, finished with lofty career numbers including 113

hits, a .417 average, 11 homers, 63 RBIs, 75 runs and 29 stolen bases.

Junior shortstop Keith Long, sophomore center fielder Todd Macklin,

sophomore left fielder Danny Whitaker and sophomore third baseman Josh

Bradbury also had hits for CdM Friday.

CIF DIVISION IV

First round

St. Paul 5, Corona del Mar 2

Corona del Mar 000 020 0 - 2 5 1

St. Paul 010 004 x - 5 6 1

N. Rhodes and Karpe; S. Salas, Black (6) and Aguilera. W - Black, 4-2.

L - N. Rhodes, 5-7. 2B - Griffith (SP). 3B - Eagle (CdM), J. Salas (SP).