Barnum muffles Sailors

Steve Virgen

Newport Harbor High senior pitcher Ryan Heenan was sort of a master

of improvisation in a Sea View League baseball game at Laguna Hills

Wednesday. Unfortunately for the Sailors, they could not ad-lib at

the plate.

Newport (7-14, 2-8 in league) produced four hits and failed to

come up with timely hitting, Coach Joel Desguin said, as Laguna Hills

won, 5-1. The Hawks (9-10-1, 4-5-1) scored three runs in the sixth to

break open a 2-0 game.

Newport senior Ryan Rowe was scheduled to pitch against Laguna

Hills, but he woke up with a sore neck, Desguin said. Another

pitcher, senior Ryan Torrey, nursed a sore arm and could only play

the outfield. So, Desguin turned to Heenan about 15 minutes before

the game.

“We thought he would give us only two innings,” Desguin said. “He

did a great job. I figured he could frustrate [the Hawks] because

they like to go after the ball. And, he did frustrate them.”

Rowe, who used off-speed pitches to keep the Hawks off balance,

struck out three in his complete-game performance that included three

shutout innings and no walks. Laguna Coach Pete Tereschuk noticed

Rowe’s ability to deceive his batters.

“He did a good job of changing speeds,” Tereschuk said. “He had

some mystery pitches that were hard to solve.”

Rowe actually matched up rather well against Laguna Hills’ pitcher

Kevin Barnum, a senior bound for UC Berkeley. Barnum, who was backed

up by a few stellar defensive plays, struck out six and walked none.

Junior Joe Cantarella seemed to be the only one to figure Barnum out.

Cantarella went 3 for 3 and collected an RBI in the seventh for the

Sailors.

Newport’s only other hit came from sophomore Matt Erickson, who

led off the fourth with a double that hit the left-field fence.

Barnum, however, retired the next three batters.

“[Barnum] made the difference, but he can actually throw harder

than he was throwing,” Tereschuk said. “But he kept us in rhythm and

we played some good defense.”

Barnum retired the first six batters he faced until Cantarella

came up with a base hit in the third inning. Cantarella was left

stranded at third. Cantarella was also stranded at second in the

fifth after his single to right field.

“We didn’t have the middle of the lineup stepping up with any

hits,” Desguin said. “The late innings have also been a problem for

us. We give up runs and we just can’t string together any hitting.

That’s been our problem all year.”

Barnum helped his own cause going 2 for 3. He smacked a solo home

run over the fence in left field in the second inning and had an RBI

double in the sixth.

After the Hawks scored three runs in the sixth, the Sailors were

able to avoid the shutout. With one out, junior Mike McLean reached

on an error, then stole second, sliding to the bag before the Laguna

shortstop could tag him.

Then, with two outs, Cantarella bounced slowly toward first base.

The Hawks’ first baseman, Brent Baskin, gathered the ball and quickly

tossed it to Barnum, but Cantarella beat Barnum to first base, while

McLean crossed the plate.

While Laguna Hills came up with some key defensive plays, Newport

Harbor also stepped up with a few of its own. In the second inning,

sophomore catcher Jeff Sanchez caught Davis Corley stealing, as

Sanchez made the throw to first baseman Nick Sacco, to catch Corley

off the bag. Sacco threw to Erickson, who tagged Corley out. Two

batters later, Barnum homered.

Newport Harbor will host Laguna Hills Friday at 3 p.m. The teams

have split their first two games this season.

*--*

Sea View League

Laguna Hills 5, Newport 1

Score by Innings

Newport 000 000 1 -- 1 4 2

Laguna 010 013 x -- 5 10 1

Heenan and Sanchez; Barnum and Rochon. W

-- Barnum, 3-6. L -- Heenan. 2B --

Erickson (NH), Larson (LH), Latino (LH),

Barnum (LH). HR -- Barnum (LH)

*--*