Sea Kings blanked by Aztecs

Barry Faulkner

The Corona del Mar High baseball team may have taken a glimpse at its

future Friday afternoon, but the price was seeing its season end in a

4-0 CIF Southern Section Division IV quarterfinal loss to visiting La

Quinta.

The top-seeded Aztecs, stacked with four Division I college-bound

senior standouts, improved to 28-2. Coach Dave Demarest’s squad,

which opened the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today, is

now ranked seventh in one national poll and has won 12 straight,

moved on to Tuesday’s semifinal, bidding to reach its fifth section

title game in nine seasons.

But the Sea Kings (19-9), who started only one senior in the field

Friday, have enough promise to prompt several CdM rooters to dream of

big things next spring.

“I already have,” said CdM Coach John Emme, when asked after

Friday’s game if it was too early to ponder the 2004 possibilities.

Emme, however, was quick to pay tribute to his senior nucleus of

shortstop Keith Long, designated hitter Nick Karpe and reserve

outfielder Ryan Rhodes, among others.

“Our seniors really led this team,” Emme said of the Class of

2003, which will most lament the upset that might have been.

The Sea Kings trailed, 2-0, when they began a two-out rally in the

sixth against unbeaten senior right-hander Ian Kennedy. Kennedy, who

improved to 38-2 in his varsity career and has not allowed an earned

run since his first appearance of the season, had mowed down 13

straight after stranding two runners in the second inning. But junior

first baseman Barrett Sprowl walked and junior left fielder Nick

Palchikoff lined a single to center to ignite the home portion of the

crowd of more than 300 that enveloped the backstop from dugout to

dugout and beyond.

Sophomore right fielder Wess Presson shot a single into right

field and a pinch-runner, chugging from second base, tried to score

on the play. The relay throw from a charging right fielder, to the

first baseman, to the catcher, arrived at the plate a fraction behind

the CdM runner. But, electing not to slide, the runner tripped over

the left leg of the catcher, planted directly in front of the plate.

The contact, and his momentum, launched the CdM runner over the plate

and, while trying to crawl back to touch the plate, was tagged out by

the catcher.

The play killed the rally, deadened the home crowd and deflated

the home dugout.

La Quinta then doubled its lead with a two-out, two-run homer run

by Brandon Laird in the seventh and Kennedy worked a perfect final

frame to lower his ERA to 0.53 this season. The Aztecs have not

allowed a run in three playoff wins.

CdM managed five hits against Kennedy, who fanned nine, walked one

and hit a batter. Junior Josh Bradbury singled and Sprowl bounded a

bad-hop single off the third baseman’s glove in the first.

Junior Danny Marin-Finn lined a single to right in the third,

before Kennedy, bound for USC, settled down in the middle innings.

“I don’t think [Kennedy] had his dominant fastball, but he was

putting the ball wherever he wanted it,” Emme said.

Senior Ian Stewart, another USC recruit, lived up to his billing

as a prodigious hitter. He went 3 for 4, including a home run

rocketed inside the right-field foul pole to give his team a 1-0 lead

in the third. It was Stewart’s 16th homer of the season and upped his

season RBI total to 61, seven off the section single-season record.

The two homers, as well as a sacrifice fly by Costa Mesa transfer

Adam Jorgenson in the sixth, helped overcome a solid effort by CdM

starting pitcher Todd Macklin, another junior.

“I think Todd made a name for himself today,” Emme said. “He has

the opportunity to be completely dominant next year.”

Emme expressed extreme pride over the progress of his team this

season.

“That was a great baseball game,” he said. “Ever since Calvary

Chapel [a poorly played loss that gave the Pacific Coast League

champions a 1-2 league record], these guys played like champions,

which is what they did today.”

*--*

CIF Division IV

Quarterfinal

La Quinta 4, CdM 0

Score by Innings

La Quinta 001 001 2 - 4 6 0 CdM 000 000 0 - 0 5 2

Kennedy and Randall; Macklin, N. Rhodes (7)

and Marin-Finn. W - Kennedy, 7-0. L -

Macklin, 6-3. 2B - Stewart (LQ). HR -

Stewart (LQ), Laird (LQ)

*--*