Newport takes good with bad

Steve Virgen

Judging by the final score Friday, it would seem the Newport Harbor

Baseball Association Pony 14-year-old All-Stars suffered their worst

loss of the seven games they have been together.

However, NHBA Manager Doug Adams admired his team’s effort when it

scored seven runs in the fourth inning, lessening the pain of a 21-9

loss in five innings to Laguna Niguel in the teams’ first game in the

Dana Point Summer Classic at Del Obispo Field.

“In terms of effort that was not our worst loss,” Adams said.

“[The NHBA All-Stars] did a real good job of coming back when they

were down, 19-1. They took pride in their game and did not quit.”

Adams, who was the head coach at Vanguard University (then

Southern California College) from 1975 through 1981 and again in

1988-89, proved to be an example for his players in the fourth

inning.

With his team trailing, 19-3, Adams challenged the base umpire’s

call of an out on a play at first base. Jerry Whitney knocked a

ground ball toward the Laguna Niguel shortstop. Whitney attempted to

beat the throw, which was a bit high and the first baseman appeared

to take his foot off the bag to grab the ball.

Adams came out of the dugout and spoke with the base umpire and

after he had a brief discussion with the head umpire, the call was

reversed.

“If I give up, the players will give up, too,” said Adams, who

also assisted at UC Irvine in 1990 and Orange Coast College in ‘93,

and again at Vanguard from 2001 to ’03. “You have to keep battling.

There’s no reason to give up.”

The NHBA All-Stars (4-3), the designated visiting team, could have

given up after three innings, as Laguna Niguel scored 19 runs, four

in the first, nine in the second and six in the third. Laguna Niguel

batted around in the second, scoring the nine runs on seven hits.

Adams’ squad answered in the fourth, scoring the aforementioned

seven runs on six hits. The NHBA All-Stars were also aided by four

Laguna Niguel errors.

Garrett Gordon, who pitched two innings, led off the fourth with a

home run over the fence in left field for NHBA. Ben Frazier followed

with a single. Then Spencer Smith and Adrian Rodriguez reached on

consecutive errors by the Laguna Niguel pitcher to load the bases.

Whitney then came up with what was an RBI infield single, rather

than the groundout that was originally called. Nick Svendsen, the

lone 13-year-old on the squad, delivered a two-run double with his

hit toward the gap in right-center field.

After a groundout, Niko Hernandez put the ball in play and an

error by the shortstop allowed Hernandez to get to first and load the

bases once again. Preston Davey then sent a 1-2 pitch to left to

score Svendsen. Troy Seeber walked to set up a bases-loaded situation

for Brett Adams.

Brett Adams collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring

Hernandez. Before the inning ended, Gordon came up again and singled

with a hard hit past the third baseman. The NHBA All-Stars left the

bases loaded to end the inning.

NHBA scored one run in the fifth. Smith led off the inning with a

double to the left-field corner. He advanced to third on a Rodriguez

groundout, then came home on Svendsen’s RBI groundout.

Smith was 2 for 2 for the NHBA All-Stars. He homered in the

second, with a towering shot over the fence in left field. Svendsen

had three RBIs, a double and a triple in the second inning. Gordon

also had two hits.

Gordon, along with Brett Adams and Hernandez pitched for the NHBA

All-Stars, who were without Peter Hapke, a pitcher who was out of

town.

Laguna Niguel Manager Michael Ray said 10 of the 12 players on his

team finished third in the Irvine Memorial Day Pony tournament. That

Laguna Niguel squad scored 13 or more runs in the six games it played

and Ray said his hitters batted in the mid-.400s during the tourney.

The Dana Point Summer Classic includes four teams, including NHBA,

Laguna Niguel, Coast and Dana Point. The NHBA All-Stars will return

to action in the tourney Sunday at 10 a.m., when they face Dana

Point.

The NHBA All-Stars are also playing in the 15th annual Los

Alamitos invitational, which includes 15 teams. NHBA takes on Los

Alamitos tonight at 7.