CdM clipped by Servite in first round of CIF Division 1 baseball playoffs
It mattered not that Corona del Mar had struck for a run in the sixth inning, there were no second thoughts in the Servite dugout regarding who the Friars would send to the mound to protect a one-run lead in the final frame.
Mikiah Negrete went back out for the seventh inning and finished off the complete game, one in which he recorded a season-best 11 strikeouts, as the Friars beat the Sea Kings 3-2 on Friday at CdM.
“The only decision is if he gets on base, do we pinch run for him and lose the DH,” Servite coach Shawn Gilbert said of sending Negrete back out for the seventh. “That’s the only real decision. He’s our horse. He’s our guy. He was going to go the distance, or if it got hairy there, we have some guys.”
The senior left-hander, bound for the University of San Diego, struck out Jack Salmon and got Jack Bolt to ground out to second base with a man on to end the game. Dillon Gomez had dropped a single inside the right-field line with one out to bring the winning run to the plate for CdM (18-11).
“I felt like in my first inning, I was missing spots,” Negrete said. “I gave up that home run early, but as I settled into the third or the fourth, I got my heart rate down, I felt like my stuff just got better and better.”
Servite (17-11) remains on the road to face No. 3-seeded Cypress (21-5-2) in the second round on Tuesday. The Centurions had a first-round bye.
Corona del Mar repeated as the Wave League champion this season, but the single-elimination playoff format can be unforgiving. It was for the Sea Kings, who saw all three Servite runs cross in a fourth inning that featured two walks and an error.
Trevor Schmidt and Camden Clewett both had a double and a run batted in for Servite.
“I’m just proud of these boys, where they’ve taken the program,” CdM coach Kevin McCaffrey said. “… Back-to-back league championships, there’s so much to be proud of. I’m just so happy with this group. It’s been such a joy, and coming to practice every day, it’s just great. We look forward to it every day, and you don’t get that every year as a coach.”
The Sea Kings started the scoring with a solo home run by Van Sidebotham in the first inning. After falling behind 3-1, CdM would strike again in the sixth.
Max Lane’s two-out double followed a double by his brother, Dillon Lane, cutting the deficit in half. It was a moment that Max, a Harvard commit, will never forget.
“I was excited,” Max Lane said of putting himself in scoring position as the tying run. “It was even more special it was my little brother out there on second. I probably will remember that at-bat probably the rest of my life, seeing my little brother go, then me right after, it was pretty special.”
Support our sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.
For more sports stories, visit latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/sports or follow us on Twitter @DailyPilotSport.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
