Sea Kings reach semifinals

Barry Faulkner

Intimidation may be too strong a word, but the air of invincibility

starting to emanate from the Corona del Mar High baseball team may

have helped the Sea Kings earn their 5-1 victory over visiting San

Dimas in a CIF Southern Section Division IV quarterfinal Friday.

Unseeded San Dimas (19-9) broke with baseball convention and,

arguably, bent some rules in trying to upset the No. 3-seeded Sea

Kings (23-5), who have now won 15 straight and 21 of their last 22 to

advance to Tuesday’s semifinal at Pacific Coast League rival

Northwood.

Northwood (19-10), which CdM defeated in all three league meetings

this season, knocked off St. Joseph of Santa Maria, 5-1, Friday.

San Dimas, which had its hitters excessively crowd the plate

against CdM left-hander Blake Contant, was extremely aggressive on

the bases and used several unconventional outfield alignments.

One unusual outfield alignment came into play on the biggest play

of the game, with the score tied, 1-1, and the bases loaded in the

CdM sixth.

Parker Ferguson singled, followed by walks to Josh Bradbury and

Barrett Sprowl to set the stage for senior left fielder Nik

Palchikoff.

Palchikoff, who came in leading the team with 27 RBIs, lined what

appeared to be a solid single into center field as the overflow crowd

of around 400 roared its approval.

As the liner sank toward the turf maybe 15 yards behind the

second-base bag, however, San Dimas center fielder Emmett Samaniego,

who had been stationed atypically shallow, appeared to have a play on

the ball. But as he pitched forward to dive for the ball, it got past

him and rolled all the way to the fence for a three-run triple.

Palchikoff then scored on Tyler Lance’s RBI ground ball to third

and Contant finished the Saints off for a complete-game five-hitter

to improve to 10-2 this season.

“They had some interesting defensive alignments,” CdM Coach John

Emme said. “They were cat and mousing it all game long with their

outfielders.”

Saint hitters also crowded the plate, leaned over the strike zone

and appeared to dive into inside pitches. They had four hit batsmen

reach, including one in each of the first three innings. But one

pitch that hit a batter was ruled a strike and the home-plate umpire

repeatedly borrowed a Saint’s bat, using the knob to draw the inside

line of the batter’s box to move hitters off the plate. There was

also a seven-minute delay in the fourth when the ump ordered the

white lines marking the batter’s box to be redone.

The plate, however, still belonged to Contant, whom Emme called

“masterful.”

“They tried to get in [Contant’s] head by standing on the plate,

but he was a craftsman on the mound,” Emme said.

Contant blanked the visitors through five, picking up a 1-0 lead

when Palchikoff singled in Josh Bradbury in the fourth.

San Dimas tied it in the sixth with a single, hit batter,

groundout to advance the runners, and an RBI single off the bat of

Joey Chico.

But Palchikoff, who also made a diving catch while retreating

toward the left-field corner to wow the crowd in the fifth, got the

big hit in the sixth to finish 2 for 3 with four RBIs.