Newport Harbor Baseball Association: One for the ages

Bryce Alderton

NEWPORT BEACH - Boy, Roy Campanella, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra,

Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Billy Martin would have been proud of the

baseball they saw Saturday.

Even though Saturday’s game between the Yankees and Dodgers wasn’t for

the World Series championship, these 11 and 12-year-olds put on a show

reminiscent of past World Series matchups.

The Yankees and Dodgers of Newport Harbor Baseball Association’s

Bronco Division needed three extra innings to decide the outcome when the

Dodgers capitalized on three walks in the ninth inning to score two and

eventually hold on to defeat the Yankees, 3-1.

Three consecutive walks to Matt Waller, Christian Hoagland (1 for 2

with a single, RBI) and R.J. D’Cruz (three innings, five strikeouts, two

walks, one hit) to open the ninth set the stage for Danny Moskovits, who

hit a groundball to the Yankees’ shortstop who threw home, but too late

to tag Waller, who scored the Dodgers second run. Next up came catcher

Brandon Davis, who caught all nine innings. Davis (1 for 3, RBI, four

stolen bases) hit a 3-2 pitch right back at Yankees’ pitcher Cameron

Chase, who got a glove on the ball, but the ball trickled just past him

and his only play was to first, allowing Hoagland to score the Dodgers

third and final run.

Hoagland came on to pitch the ninth, allowing a leadoff single to

Dusty Campbell (2 for 4, three stolen bases) before retiring the next

three Yankee batters on groundball outs, ending the pitcher’s duel nearly

three hours after the first pitch left Yankee starter Jerry Whitney’s

hand.

The Yankees scored a run in the first as Cameron Chase, who had been

hit by a pitch to lead-off the game and stole two bases in the inning,

scored on an RBI groundout by Jackson Massingill.

The Dodgers got their first run in the third, on a single by Hoagland

to plate John Swift, (three innings pitched, nine strikeouts (struck out

side in the third, one run).

Both teams combined for five hits, all singles.

Zack Gagnon singled in the second and stole two bases before being

stranded at third.

Pitching kept both teams in the game.

For the Yankees, Campbell struck out six, walked three and allowed no

runs in three innings; Chase had three strikeouts in three innings, his

most important coming in the seventh when he struck out two to end the

inning with Dodgers on second and third, and Whitney had two strikeouts

in three innings.

R.J. D’Cruz struck out the side on nine pitches in the seventh, and

pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth for the Dodgers.

Close games like Saturday’s aren’t new according to Dodger Manager Ron

D’ Cruz.

“Nine innings isn’t typical, but we’ve been in tight games most of the

year,” D’Cruz said.

After an opening game loss to the Reds the Dodgers have reeled off

five straight wins and getting contributions from many facets.

“Everybody is contributing hits, walks and really our pitching is the

key,” D’Cruz said.

Yankee Manager Chris Hone described the emotional roller-coaster of a

game.

“That game was one of the most intense I’ve ever been in, wow,” Hone

said. “You have to tip your hat to them because they won. Both teams

played really well, didn’t want to give it up.”

Even though Hone said he really didn’t see “a difference” in the game,

he mentioned his hitters’ patience at the plate.

“Their hitters were more patient than ours,” Hone said. “They made our

pitchers work and we were swinging at the first pitch. But other than

that, both teams played pretty solid.”

The Dodgers, 15-9, 5-1 in playoffs, have defeated the Yankees, 13-8-2,

3-1, three times, twice during the regular season and once during the

playoffs.