Sea Kings alone in first

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR -- Less than two weeks after hitting bottom, the

Corona del Mar High baseball program finds itself alone at the top.

The Sea Kings surrendered four runs in the first inning, but

overwhelmed Pacific Coast League visitor University with four home

runs Friday, en route to an 11-6 victory. The win, CdM’s fourth

straight in league, propelled Coach John Emme’s squad (8-4, 5-2 in

the PCL) into sole possession of first place, one game ahead of Uni.

The one-game lead, however, is bolstered by the fact that the Sea

Kings have won 2 of 3 from the Trojans, giving them the advantage

should a head-to-head tiebreaker be required.

Junior third baseman Josh Bradbury, who one-hit the Trojans for

six innings in Tuesday’s 11-0 CdM victory, joined senior shortstop

Keith Long as the offensive leaders Thursday.

Bradbury hit a solo home run to left field in the first inning and

belted a two-run dinger to right-center to add some insurance in the

sixth. Bradbury now has four homers, tying junior Nick Palchikoff for

the team lead.

Long launched a three-run homer to left field in the fourth to

give the Sea Kings their first lead, 6-5. He finished 3 for 3 with a

walk, four RBIs and two runs.

Sophomore Wess Presson added a two-run shot, the first of his

two-year varsity career, in the fifth to help fortify the hosts’

12-hit attack.

The four-homer game, which upped the CdM season total to 12,

rekindled memories of the “Back Bay Bombers” of 1998-99, who amassed

77 home runs in those two seasons.

“I love it when I get to undercoach,” Emme said. “There’s nothing

I like more than just being able to watching our guys swing. It was a

lot of fun today.”

University Coach Chris Conlin was also impressed by the Sea Kings’

muscle at the plate.

“They’re really physical,” Conlin said. “You don’t really want to

pitch to the first five guys in their lineup.”

It was University, however, that had the most big hits early,

driving in three of its four first-inning runs with a double by Nick

Jerakos and singles by Dan Warner and Jason Rice.

Two wild pitches and a balk helped the visitors hand CdM its first

deficit since a 12-4 league road loss to Calvary Chapel March 28.

It was after the Calvary Chapel setback, a performance Emme termed

a complete embarrassment, that the CdM players decided they would

turn things around with improved work ethic in practice.

“We wanted to prepare better and not come into games so

lackadaisical,” Bradbury said.

“I tied to just let the team figure out what the problem was and

they said they wanted to change things,” Emme said.

The Sea Kings responded with consecutive victories over Northwood

(3-2) and Tesoro (7-4), before taking two this week from a Uni team

that knocked them off, 6-5, in the March 21 league opener at CdM.

CdM might have erased the early Uni lead Thursday in the first two

innings, if not for two of its three baserunning blunders on the day.

The first occurred when a runner was picked off first by the Uni

catcher, just prior to Bradbury’s solo blast.

After three walks and a hit batter pushed across a CdM run in the

second, a Sea King runner was doubled off second on a line drive to

right field. On the same play, the Sea King at third base failed to

tag up, though he eventually scored on Long’s RBI single.

Uni increased its lead to 5-3 in the fourth inning, when Rucky

McKinley drove a solo homer over the center-field fence. The Trojans

added two singles in the inning, but CdM reliever Nick Rhodes avoided

further damage, capping a three-inning stint in which he retired nine

of the 13 he faced.

Rhodes was rewarded with his second victory in as many decisions

when the Sea Kings scored three in the fifth.

Wess Presson reached on an infield throwing error to start the

rally and Jerrit Thayer singled with one out to set the stage for

Long’s heroic round-tripper, his first of the spring.

After CdM senior reliever Todd Macklin retired the side in order

in the fifth, Presson cashed in Barrett Sprowl’s leadoff single with

a two-out, two-run clout to left-center.

Macklin then worked out of a jam in the sixth, allowing just one

run, and worked a perfect seventh for his first save. He set down

nine of the 12 he faced, including three strikeouts.

“Our relievers did a good job today,” Emme said.

Three runs in the sixth took some of the tension out of Uni’s last

at-bat. After Long led off with a walk and Bradbury followed with a

homer, Tyler Lents reached on a throwing error. Sprowl (2 for 3 after

doubling three times against the Trojans Tuesday) and Palchikoff

loaded the bases with singles, the latter a perfectly place bunt.

Macklin drove in the third run of the inning with a fielder’s

choice grounder.

CdM catcher Danny Marin-Finn, who drove in a run with a walk, also

singled twice and blocked balls in the dirt all day to help keep Uni

baserunners from advancing.

Sprowl also made two fine defensive plays and Thayer, a junior

second baseman who was 1 for 3 at the plate, made the defensive play

of the day, diving to make a backhanded stab of a liner for the first

out in the seventh.

The Sea Kings will try to extend their winning streak Saturday at

11 a.m., when they host Back Bay rival Newport Harbor in the first

roud of the Pride of the Coast Tournament.

*--*

Pacific Coast League

CdM 11, University 6 Score by Innings

Univ 400 101 0 -- 6 9 2

CdM 120 323 x -- 11 12 0

Warner, Rackliffe (5) and Huffaker;

Contant, N. Rhodes (2), Macklin (5) and

Marin-Finn. W -- N. Rhodes, 2-0. L --

Warner. Sv -- Macklin (1). 2B -- Gerakos

(U). HR -- Bradbury (CdM) 2, Long (CdM),

McKinley (U), Presson (CdM)

*--*