Marina, Edison all tied up again

HUNTINGTON BEACH --- A fan brought a cowbell to Friday’s big Sunset League baseball showdown between Marina High and Edison.

It left some other Vikings fans in the standing-room only crowd to echo Will Ferrell’s famous bit from “Saturday Night Live,” where the Ferrell character said he had a fever “and the only prescription is more cowbell.”

As it turned out, though, a Chad Lewis home run was a winning prescription for Marina and a tough pull to swallow for Edison.

The junior third baseman’s two-run blast in the top of the sixth inning helped Marina win, 4-3, at Edison High, and climb back into a tie for first place in league with the Chargers.

“It kept going,” Lewis said of his fifth home run of the year, hit to right field on a 1-and-2 count. “At first I was like, ‘Ooh, that might have a chance,’ and then it kept going and going and went over. It’s the greatest feeling.”

Marina (19-3, 9-2 in league) feels the same after pulling even with Edison (16-4, 9-2). Both teams have four league games remaining.

After losing Wednesday to Edison, 2-1, Friday’s win was crucial for the Vikings, who began the week as the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll. Another loss would have meant slipping two games back in the league race.

“We were thirsty for this one,” said Marina senior pitcher Paul Strong, who improved to 6-1. “This is the most intense series I’ve ever played in my life. They’re an amazing team, and it was definitely big to win this one. Now we’re tied back with league again. The slates are clean.”

Strong gave up three runs in the third inning, although two of those were unearned as the Vikings made a pair of errors. But the UC Irvine-bound lefty came back strong, only allowing one runner to reach second base from that point on. He struck out eight and walked three.

“Errors, hits, they’re going to happen in baseball,” Strong said. “It’s just a matter of how well you can deal with it. I feel I can manage well in those situations, and it’s just how well you can come back. You deal with it. You go out and just pitch your butt off.”

The Vikings took a 2-0 lead in the first inning off Edison senior starter Kurt Heyer, the Arizona-bound right-hander who had earned the win Wednesday with three innings of shutout relief. With one out, senior right fielder Jason Aden walked, junior catcher Vinny Ponce singled and senior first baseman J.J. Baccari walked to load the bases.

Senior Pablo Contreras followed with a first-pitch, sharply hit single to center to score two runs. Ponce scored after he collided with Edison senior catcher Donald Sneed just up the third-base line, jarring the ball loose.

“Kurt didn’t have his command early in the game,” Edison Coach Steve Lambright said. “He walked two guys, which is uncharacteristic of him. Unfortunately, Contreras is a dead-red fastball guy. [Heyer] got a little too much of the plate, and the kid was ready and he jumped on it.”

But Edison, ranked No. 4 in Division I, responded in the third. Senior shortstop Ryan Miller reached on an error, and senior Chris Czerniachowski’s double down the third-base line scored pinch-runner Sean Whiteman. Junior Josh Lesinski followed with an RBI single and Sneed’s grounder to short was bobbled, allowing Czerniachowski to score.

The back-and-forth nature of the game — and the series — continued in the top of the sixth. Heyer had retired 14 straight batters, but Ponce broke that up with his second single of the game, to center.

“I was just trying to hit something solid,” Ponce said. “If I get out, I get out, but hit something solid. Thank God I did, luckily I did.”

Lewis followed that with his blast, taking advantage of a hanging slider.

“On Wednesday, I had a chance to win the game with one out and guys on first and second,” Lewis said. “I didn’t get it done. So going into that at-bat [Friday], I was thinking I had to clutch up for my team right here. This was where I could make it all up.”

Strong was left standing on the mound in the teams’ first league meeting, when Czerniachowski had a walk-off double. This time, he got a fly-ball out with a runner on second in the seventh and two outs, pitching his team back to the top of the league.

All three league games between the schools were decided by one run.

“These two teams are evenly matched, and both well-deserving to be Sunset League champs,” Lambright said. “But both of us still have to go to work.”

Edison is at Newport Harbor Wednesday, while Marina is at Los Alamitos.