Moskovits resilient in Sea Kings’ victory

CORONA DEL MAR — Start or finish a baseball game? Danny Moskovits prefers to start on the mound.

Moskovits tried to do both for Corona del Mar High Monday.

The right-handed sophomore was sharp in his varsity debut as a starter. A one-hit shutout is what he took into the sixth inning against visiting Northwood.

But on his way to picking up CdM’s first win of the season, he ran into trouble.

It was OK with CdM Coach John Emme. Seeing Moskovits give up back-to-back singles and then a three-run home run made him smile.

As Emme pulled Moskovits, the Sea Kings had a big enough lead and went on to win, 14-3, in the third pool game of the Newport Elks Tournament’s Frank Lerner Division.

“They actually kind of did me a favor by hitting the home run because then it was a no-brainer [to replace him],” Emme said of the Timberwolves. “It’s one of those things, kid’s got a shutout and his pitch count was low. I don’t want to extend his outing too long.”

Moskovits did his part for CdM (1-2) in his five innings of work. He challenged hitters with CdM’s offense supporting him with three runs in the third inning, four in the fourth and seven in the fifth.

By the time he left, he threw 73 pitches, struck out four batters and walked one.

When he walked back to the dugout, he wasn’t too thrilled about his shutout vanishing after allowing three runs and three hits in the sixth until Emme approached him.

“He just said good job, and he was actually kind of happy that the home run happened,” Moskovits said. “I wanted to keep going. I wasn’t that nervous. I knew I could get them out.”

The Sea Kings’ learned Moskovits could record outs with his sinker and changeup before the game against Northwood (0-3).

Moskovits came into relieve in the season opener against Esperanza in the fifth, and, with one out and the bases loaded, he bailed himself out with a groundball double play.

The Sea Kings wound up losing, 6-5, and Moskovits (1-1) took the loss.

But shortstop Jake Lemmerman and left fielder Austin Elliott made sure the newbie wouldn’t lose again. The two seniors were responsible for the team’s first and last runs.

Lemmerman twice hit RBI doubles, and the first gave Corona del Mar a 1-0 lead in the third. Then after CdM, which finished with 15 hits, chased Northwood starter Matt Munson after 5 1/3 innings, Elliott came up with what he calls “the ideal situation.”

The bases were loaded for the cleanup hitter against Northwood reliever Kyle Counts.

After a wild pitch, Elliott got a little rowdy. He pulled a fastball over the left-field wall for his first career grand slam that put Corona del Mar up, 14-0.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play and drive in a few runs,” said Elliott, who went three for four with five RBIs. “But I drove in all of them.”

Newport Elks TournamentFrank Lerner Division

Corona del Mar 14,

Northwood 3

Score by Innings

Northwood 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 - 3 5 3

CdM 0 0 3 4 7 0 x - 14 15 1

Munson, Horrell (5), Counts (5) and Wagner; Moskovits, Jones (6), Doering (7) and DiRocco. W -- Moskovits, 1-1. L -- Munson. 2B -- Inglis (NW), Lemmerman (CdM), 2, Ford (CdM), Sands (CdM). HR -- Watanabe (NW), Elliott (CdM).