Youth All-Star baseball: Newport earns sweet revenge

DANA POINT - The Newport Harbor Baseball Association Bronco A

All-Star Team (ages 11-12) got its revenge Tuesday at the expense of

Fountain Valley A.

Newport’s 4-1 win Tuesday at the Dana Point Invitational gave the

Bronco team third place in the tournament, taking some of the sting out

of an earlier 10-6 tournament loss to Fountain Valley.

Steady pitching and a few timely hits gave Newport the win.

Newport starter Nick Svendsen pitched five strong innings, allowing no

runs and one hit while striking out four.

Newport scored its first run in the bottom of the third as Ben Frazier

walked and Svendsen doubled to put runners on second and third with no

outs. Adrian Rodriguez then connected for an opposite-field hit to give

Newport a 1-0 lead.

Danny Moskovits led off the fourth with a home run to left, followed

by four consecutive hits by Jackson Massingill, Peter Hapke, Troy Seeber

and Niko Hernandez to give Newport a 3-1 lead.

Newport added an insurance run in the sixth when Andrew Kaban scored

on an RBI groundout.

Peter Hapke led Newport with two hits and strong play in center field,

chasing down every fly ball hit to him.

The infield also played solidly with Bonn at first, R.J. D’Cruz at

second and Brock Schuler at shortstop.Newport rebounded from a

first-inning 4-0 deficit two days earlier against Fountain Valley, but

couldn’t hold a 6-4 lead, as Fountain Valley scored six runs in the final

two innings to win, 10-6.

Newport took a 6-4 lead in the fourth on hits by Massingill, Seeber

and Svendsen, who drove in two runs in the inning, but Fountain Valley

scored two in the fourth and four in the fifth to ice the game.

Newport battled all the way, cutting the lead to 4-3 in the second as

Bonn, D’Cruz, Massingill and Seeber each walked consecutively. Schuler,

who pitched 4 1/3 innings, then singled to drive in two runs.

Rodriguez added a hit to boost the offense, and shortstop Hernandez

and center fielder Hapke made some strong defensive plays.

Seeber pitched 1 2/3 innings for Newport.Newport opens District 2

tournament play Thursday against Los Alamitos at Harvard Park in Irvine.