No quit in Newport

The Newport Harbor Baseball Association Mustang B 9- and

10-year-old All-Stars followed the phrase, “Never say die,” in their

recent district tournament.

Playing inspired baseball, Newport knocked off a formidable Garden

Grove A team, according to Newport Manager Steve Harris, 8-7, to

reach the semifinals of the District 1 Tournament before losing to

Anaheim, 9-5, ending their tournament run.

Newport played an errorless game against Garden Grove, receiving

strong defense from first baseman Jack Yeager and outfielders Austin

Wobrock, Preston Wheeler, Nelson Simons, Erik Heimstaedt and Angelo

Angelides.

Starter Jason Harris threw five innings, allowing six hits while

striking out seven. Kyle Holgate pitched the final inning preserving

the win.

Garden Grove started out strong, striking out five of the first

six Newport batters while taking a 2-0 lead after two innings, but

Newport came back.

Newport scored three runs in the top of the third. Parker Norton

led off with a single and Gabriel Gomez drove in Norton with an RBI

double to right. Gomez would later score on a wild pitch. Richie

Lowery walked and later scored on an RBI groundout by Wobrock.

Newport never trailed after going ahead, 3-2, scoring two more

runs in the top of the fourth. Spencer Rautus led off with a single

and Simons walked. Wheeler then hit a ground ball back to the

pitcher, who tried to throw home but the ball got away, allowing two

runs to score, making it 5-3 Newport.

Newport scored three more runs in the top of the sixth as Rautus

led off with a walk followed by an RBI single by Gomez. Gomez later

scored on an RBI by Wheeler. Lowery then drove in Wheeler on a bunt

single.

Newport took a brief 1-0 lead in the first against Anaheim as

Wobrock drove in Yeager, who had reached on a single.

The lead was short-lived as Anaheim scored two in the second after

a walk, a hit batsman, an RBI single and a fly ball to left, and five

in the third, after a series of base hits and a couple of Newport

errors.

But Newport refused to die, posting two runs in both the fifth and

sixth innings but Anaheim held on for the 9-5 win.

Norton and Rautus both scored on RBI hits by Yeager and Wobrock in

the fifth.

Newport scored its two runs in the sixth on one hit, a fielder’s

choice and a ground out. Harris led off with a single and barely beat

the throw home on Norton’s fielder’s choice. Norton scored on an RBI

ground out by Rautus.

Harris finished 2 for 3 while Yeager, Wobrock and Rautus each had

one hit.

Newport received strong pitching from Wobrock, Yeager, Gomez and

Holgate and had solid defense from Lowery, Simons, Wheeler,

Heimstaedt and Angelides.