Corona del Mar bats explode

CORONA DEL MAR — The hurting started before Corona del Mar High pounded out 14 runs in the fifth inning.

One baseball player from Canyon of Canyon Country managed to get up and exit the dugout. A sport utility vehicle pulled up next to the visiting stands.

Getting in wasn’t so easy for Thomas Kratky.

Whenever he had to move, his face twitched. The SUV drove away, taking him and his injured hip to the nearest hospital.

The Sea Kings jolted the rest of Kratky’s teammates Monday.

In the fifth, CdM collected four extra-base hits, a dozen hits overall, blowing the game open en route to a 17-1 victory at home.

The Sea Kings advance to the semifinals of the Beach Pit Classic today at 11 a.m. The only thing CdM struggled with was having no control which team it plays host to next.

“Fountain Valley or Laguna Hills,” CdM Coach John Emme said. “We’re hoping its Fountain Valley because we don’t really want to play anyone in [the Pacific Coast] league.

“[In] a spring tournament, you really don’t want to play teams from your league. But if you have to, you have to.”

The Sea Kings, ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section Division III coaches’ poll, won’t have to face Laguna Hills.

Fountain Valley defeated Laguna Hills, 12-2. The way the Sea Kings are swinging the bat, you have to like their chances against the Barons or anyone in this 16-team tournament.

CdM (8-5) is riding a six-game winning streak. In both tournament games, the offense has produced 30 runs.

Run support hasn’t been an issue. Pitching hasn’t either.

Starter Andrew McCormack delivered another strong performance, giving up one run on four hits. Freshmen aren’t supposed to pitch this well.

The right-hander challenged Canyon (2-12) through six innings.

In the seventh, McCormack (1-1) didn’t take the mound. A lady in the stands found it hard to believe McCormack wasn’t allowed to earn his first complete game on varsity.

The move to have Nick Couchot relieve McCormack makes perfect sense to a coach.

“He’s young,” Emme said. “No sense running the pitch count up, although I think he was around 60 pitches.”

The pitch count for Canyon’s pitchers in the fifth surpassed McCormack’s total.

Nineteen Sea Kings batted in the fifth. CdM led, 3-1, going into the bottom half of the inning.

Leading things off was Danny Moskovits with a single to left field. The senior went four for four with three runs batted in and two doubles.

Next thing fans saw was a hitting clinic on how to spray the ball to every field.

The big shots in the fifth belonged to Brent Lawson (a two-run double in the gap in left-center field), Moskovits (a bases-clearing double to center), Michael Bloom, (a two-run home run to left center), and Couchot (a two-run double over the center fielder’s head).

“It was a good day for us,” said Emme, whose team has a solid chance to return to the final.

The last time the Sea Kings reached the championship game was in 2007. They lost to San Clemente, 5-1, getting overpowered by Jeff Grijalva, now at USC.

No pitching staff in the tournament has been able to slow down CdM’s attack. This might be the year Emme, in his 12th season, wins this tournament because of the offense.

“Quite a display,” Canyon Coach Adam Schulhofer said of CdM’s 20 hits, which hurt, not as much as seeing one of his players injure his hip again.

Beach Pit Classic

Quarterfinal

Corona del Mar 17, Canyon 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

Young, Pressman (5) Kim (5) and Roxbury; McCormack, Couchot (7) and Attyah. W – McCormack, 1-1. L – Young. 2B – Viall (C), Moskovits 2 (CdM), Bloom (CdM), Attyah (CdM), Ford (CdM), Lawson (CdM), Couchot (CdM). HR – Bloom (CdM).