:Mustang All-Stars advance

WESTMINSTER ? It was a game in which the Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Mustang Division All-Stars never trailed, but the outcome was in doubt all the way until the fifth inning on Tuesday at Freedom Park.

Then, the Newport Harbor bats took over.

Newport Harbor scored 10 runs in the inning, turning a tie into a 16-6 win over Whittier White in the district consolation finals and advancing to the section tournament.

Newport Harbor plays its opening game of the double-elimination sectionals on Thursday at 7:45 p.m. at York Field in Whittier.

Manager Pat Cox said it’s the first time in recent memory that an NHBA Mustang team has advanced to the sectional tournament.

By advancing, the Mustang team join the NHBA Bronco team, which won its district tournament.

“It’s great for Newport Harbor baseball to have a Mustang team and a Bronco team at sectionals,” Cox said. “It’s a real big statement for Newport Beach. Getting there is not easy.”

Whittier found recording outs in the fifth inning a difficult task. Relief pitcher Jordan Price had fooled the Newport Harbor bats in the fourth inning with his lack of velocity, but Newport Harbor got the timing down perfect in the top of the fifth.

TK McWhertor led off with a double to the center-field wall and was brought in on Garrett Hall’s ground-rule double to center, giving Newport Harbor a 7-6 lead. Jason Rodriguez followed with an RBI single to left and Connor Seabold added his own single to left.

Brad Tapfer followed with a walk to load the bases, then Sean Cox slapped a single to right to score two more and make it 10-6, Newport Harbor.

“We just waited back and hit the ball,” Pat Cox said. “And there were very few errors; those were all real shots.”

Whittier brought in another pitcher, but Jake Norton roped an eye-high fastball to the right-field fence, scoring two more runs. Shawn Vetrovec added an RBI groundout, eventually scoring on Hall’s second hit of the inning.

Hall finished the game four for four with two doubles.

Seabold’s single to center field loaded the bases, then Tapfer reached on a two-base error. A bad throw to second base allowed two two more runs to score, making it 16-6.

“Their [lack of] pitching depth showed, and we took advantage of it,” Pat Cox said. “We just hit it really hard.”

With the sun going down, Sean Cox intentionally swung early on three pitches to end the inning. Under tournament rules, the game had to go five full innings or the Newport Harbor outburst would have been erased and the game postponed.

Seabold walked David Arellano to open the bottom of the fifth, but induced a double-play ball to shortstop Baron Schwarz, then recorded the final out on a pop-up.

Seabold and Tapfer both scored in the first inning to lead off the game, and Hall scored in the second on Tapfer’s infield single.

Whittier used a passed ball and Albert Ramos’ RBI double in the second inning to draw even at 3-3, but Schwarz reached on an error to spark a third-inning Newport Harbor rally. He scored on McWhertor’s single, then Robert Lyons added an RBI single to shortstop to score McWhertor.

Seabold’s single up the middle made it 6-3, but Whittier drew even again with two runs in the bottom of the third and another in the fourth.

Newport Harbor starting pitcher Sean Cox went two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out two.

Seabold went three innings in relief, striking out four batters ? all of them swinging ? and giving up two hits.

Seabold and Tapfer ? No. 1 and No. 2 in the batting order ? reached base a combined eight times, and McWhertor was two for three with a hit-by-pitch to help lead the Newport Harbor attack.

Schwarz reached base three times as Newport Harbor pounded out 16 total hits.