Bryce AldertonCorona del Mar High baseball coach...

Bryce Alderton

Corona del Mar High baseball coach John Emme contends the lineup for

today’s Newport Elks tournament pool play game against Orange

Lutheran at 2 p.m. could be starkly different than the one taking the

field in the Pacific Coast League opener against Northwood March 18.

Such is the excitement and uncertainty surrounding the defending

CIF Southern Section Division IV champions, who return five from a

team that held 11 seniors last spring.

The Sea Kings finished 25-5, claiming their final 17 games and 23

of their last 24, and won their third league championship in four

years with a sterling 15-0 record.

“I’m shuffling 23 guys between varsity and [junior varsity] trying

to figure out a starting lineup in time for league,” said Emme, who

has led CdM to two Division IV championships -- the other came in

1999 -- in his prior seven years at the helm. “We have five returners

who were basically starters and significant contributors last year.

The rest of the guys are going to win and lose jobs the first two

weeks of the season. It’s going to be intense competition. We’ll find

out who the gamers are.”

CdM opened its season Friday with a 7-3 victory over La Serna, its

18th straight win dating to last year.Fourth-year varsity outfielder

and catcher Wess Presson leads the list of returners. Presson earned

first-team all-league laurels last year. He tallied a team-high eight

stolen bases and placed second on the team in RBIs (25). He finished

third in runs (29) and amassed 32 hits.

Senior Tyler Lance, a returning second-team all-league selection,

will shift from third base to first this season after finishing

fourth on the team in batting average (.417) while amassing 23 RBIs.

Lance had the team’s best RBI-to-at-bat ratio (23 RBIs in 60 at-bats)

last season.

Returning sophomore Jake Lemmerman, whom Emme calls the team’s

best defensive player, shifts from second to shortstop, filling the

void of Jeritt Thayer, a first-team all-league member who led the Sea

Kings with 77 defensive assists last season. Lemmerman hit .299 with

15 RBIs last year.

Senior returners Tyler Ray and Andy Frenkiel, who hit .444 with 10

RBIs last season, help anchor the outfield.

There will be plenty of competition for infield positions, a

contrast to last season, Emme said.

“With Jeritt and Jake, we had the best middle infield in my time

here,” Emme said. “I’m hoping to find someone to anchor second base.”

Heading the list of possible candidates at second includes Taylor

Alston, sophomore Greg Garte, sophomore Austin Elliott and senior

Mitch Folks, who started at third Friday. Folks should receive

competition at third from juniors Matt Doran, Ryan Lance and Elliott.

Junior Nick Peterson joins Tyler Lance at first, anchored last

season by Barrett Sprowl the CIF Division IV Player of the Year and

league Most Valuable Player now continuing his playing career at USC.

Juniors R.J. Duernberger and Shaun Mohler, along with sophomore

Vinnie St. John, are other outfielders Emme can rely on while

catchers Andrew Williamson (junior) and Brian Bechelli (senior) will

help anchor a pitching staff that lost its two aces, Blake Contant

and Todd Macklin, to graduation.

Junior left-hander Eric Eadington, who stands 6-foot-2, and senior

Ben Maggard both return to lead the staff after combining for four

victories last spring. Maggard went 3-0 with one save and a 3.92 ERA.

“[Eadington] can be nasty,” Emme said. “He has great movement on

the ball. If he keeps the ball down, he could be unhittable. [Both

Maggard and Eadington] could have huge years.”

They have some sizable shoes to fill in Macklin and Contant, who

shared league Co-Pitcher of the Year honors. They combined for 21

wins.

Contant, a preferred walk-on at the University of Arizona, went

12-2 with a 1.76 ERA in 94 1/3 innings, including a three-hitter in

CdM’s 3-1 victory over league foe Tesoro in the CIF title game at

Dodger Stadium.

Macklin, now at USC, tallied nine wins while posting a 3.02 ERA.

Seniors Aaron Harper, Jon Cabin, Ryan Riddles and Matt Hauser,

along with Doran, Elliott, Garte, Mohler and St. John, could all see

time on the mound for a largely untested staff, Emme said.

“There’s going to be on-the-job training,” said Emme, who had a

primarily veteran-led unit last year.

“A lot of the kids [last year] had been on varsity three years, so

by the time they were seniors, I wasn’t coaching them. I was managing

them,” Emme said. “I’m having to instruct again and be patient with

the young players. But it’s fun to see the guys know that they have

to perform when they are on the field and someone is breathing down

their neck.”

Emme, though, said the talent is there to compete for the league

title and the program’s eighth straight CIF playoff berth.

“We just have to put [the talent] in the right places,” Emme said.

“Offensively, we will be strong. Presson and Jake hit the ball the

best in the preseason. With Tyler Lance and Andy, Tyler Ray and

Andrew Williamson, we have a pretty ominous batting order.

“Defense is a question mark.”

Emme said Tesoro, which is 0-7 all-time against CdM, returns

“virtually everyone from last year’s team” and is the consensus

favorite to claim the league title.

The first of three meetings between the teams is scheduled at 3:15

p.m. March 29 at CdM.