Loss sends CdM reeling

Barry Faulkner

It came without warning, dragged on without mercy and, finally,

prompted Corona del Mar High baseball coach John Emme to question the

very foundation of a program four years removed from a CIF Southern

Section championship.

“It” was a 12-4 Pacific Coast League road loss to Calvary Chapel

Friday at Vanguard University. It was a game in which the means, more

than the end, delivered Emme into what could be a long weekend of

introspection.

“Complete embarrassment,” was Emme’s candid assessment of the

lackluster Sea King performance that featured four errors, sloppy

pitching, listless hitting, questionable base-running and,

uncharacteristically, an occasional absence of hustle.

“I haven’t seen a team from CdM play like that since I’ve been

here,” added Emme, whose previous five seasons included two league

titles, five trips to the CIF Playoffs and the aforementioned CIF

Division IV crown in 1999.

Asked about possible punitive measures for his players, Emme

instead positioned himself in front of the passing train piloted by

an Eagle squad that lost four of its first five, but has now won two

straight and is 2-1 in league play.

“I’m going to have to take a good, hard look at myself, because,

obviously, I’m not doing something right,” Emme said. “My team was

not ready to play today and I have to take the blame for that. I’m

going to have to regroup, because the approach I’m using now isn’t

working.”

The Sea Kings appeared ready to work in their first at-bat, when

Josh Bradbury earned a one-out walk, advanced to third on a Nick

Karpe double over the center fielder’s head, then scored on Nick

Palchikoff’s RBI groundout to put the Sea Kings (4-4, 1-2 in league)

in front.

But two first-inning CdM errors paved the way for six unearned

runs by the hosts.

CdM rapped out four of its six hits to score three in the second,

as Wess Presson drove in one with a single, Keith Long plated another

with a sacrifice fly and Karpe pushed one across with a groundout. A

CdM base-running blunder cost the team another run, when a runner

hesitated at second on what appeared to be a double in the

left-center gap, failing to advance more than one base and eventually

being stranded.

Calvary starting pitcher Jon Skaar got the final two outs in the

second on ground balls and proceeded to retire nine straight hitters,

before Karpe singled in the fifth.

Skaar, who evened his record at 2-2, worked out of the two-out,

two-on jam in his final inning, with a little help from CdM. A

wind-blown pop ricocheted off Skaar’s glove near the mound, but a CdM

runner that started on second, tried to score on the play and was

nailed easily at the plate when Skaar retrieved the ball and threw

home.

Terry Mermer, who led Orange County quarterbacks in regular-season

passing yards last fall, pitched the final two innings to help

Calvary jump over CdM, which some deemed the preseason league

favorite, in the PCL standings.

Karpe, a senior designated hitter who went 2 for 4, was the only

Sea King with more than one hit and senior Beau Stockstill was the

only one of four CdM pitchers to allow no runs. He struck out two in

two hitless relief innings.

CdM junior first baseman Barrett Sprowl made a backhanded pickup

of a throw in the dirt to end a Calvary Chapel threat in the fifth,

while junior shortstop Jeritt Thayer and junior right fielder Blake

Contant each went to their knees to stab sinking line drives for

other defensive highlights for the visitors.

The game’s final out was telling. Calvary center fielder Patric

Spurgin made an over-the-shoulder catch of a drive ticketed for the

right-center gap. Apparently thinking the ball had dropped, the

runner at first broke for second, without tagging and was doubled up

when the ball was relayed to first.

*--*

Pacific Coast League

Calvary Chapel 12, CdM 4

Score by Innings

CdM 130 000 0 -- 4 6 4

Calvary 621 300 x -- 12 10 3

Macklin, N. Rhodes (1), Contant (4), Stockstill (5) and Presson, Kelly (5);

Skaar, Mermer (5) and Holt, Moore (6). W

-- Skaar, 2-2. L -- Macklin, 1-2. 2B --

Karpe (CdM), Skaar (CC), Spurgin (CC), S.

Williams (CC)

*--*