CdM quintet help PCL win
IRVINE — Evan Larsen earned one last start on the mound at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.
Three months ago, his Corona del Mar High baseball team opened Pacific Coast League play on the same field where Larsen threw a two-hitter in a 4-0 win against Woodbridge.
For Larsen, it was fitting that he had the chance to take the ball at the same venue on Saturday. He and four CdM teammates competed in the 20th annual Ryan Lemmon Senior Showcase.
Larsen, outfielder Brenden Hueston, catcher Donato Di Ferdinando, outfielder Kevin McCarthy and second baseman Robby Hurst represented the Pacific Coast League against the Freeway League. While Larsen only pitched the first inning, it was another memorable outing for the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year.
“[Woodbridge Coach Tim Murray] talked to the catchers at the beginning of the game and he said, ‘I’m going to have Donato catch Evan in the first inning,’” said Larsen, who posted stellar numbers, a 9-2 record with a 1.07 earned-run average and 93 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings, with Di Ferdinando as his catcher this season. “I thought that was a really good touch for the coach to do that for me.
“This mound is where I started the season off [in league], throwing a complete shutout against Woodbridge. I ended things off where it all started this year.”
Larsen and his teammates capped their final game together by winning at Ryan Lemmon Stadium. All five CdM players saw action during the Pacific Coast League’s 9-3 win over the Freeway League.
The Pacific Coast League team, which was comprised of players from league champion Woodbridge, second-place teams Beckman and CdM, fourth-place Northwood and last-place teams University and Irvine, gave Cal State Fullerton-bound Larsen, Woodbridge’s Zak Baayoun and Beckman’s Jack Wiese plenty of run support early. The Pacific Coast League led, 8-3, after three innings.
The big inning was the six-run second. Baayoun led off the second inning with a single and Hueston followed up with a walk, and they moved up a bag on a wild pitch by Buena Park’s Louie Crow. Then Woodbridge’s Ryan Santa Cruz, Beckman’s Connor Fidone and Tyler Geurts, and Baayoun each singled in a run to help put the Pacific Coast League ahead, 7-1.
Larsen, a right-hander who gave up two hits, one run and struck out one during his stint, also batted. He went one for two with runs batted in.
Larsen’s first at-bat came with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the third inning. He hit a grounder to second and the Freeway League tried to turn the double play, but the 6-foot-4 Larsen hustled down the first-base line and beat the throw from second, bringing in a run to extend the Pacific Coast League’s advantage to 8-1.
With two outs in the fifth inning, Larsen also singled in a run with a hard-hit ball that La Habra first baseman Michael Borg could not handle. The ball ended up in shallow right field and the Pacific Coast League went up, 9-3. The next batter was Hurst, who walked. With runners on first and second, another Sea King came up to bat against Moses Giorgis, a 6-6 right-hander from Sunny Hills. The left-handed hitting McCarthy popped up to shortstop to end the inning.
The Pacific Coast League didn’t need to score any more runs. Nine was enough for Larsen, who made the All-Orange County second team, and second-team All-Pacific Coast League selections Hueston and Di Ferdinando, and McCarthy and Hurst to end their high school careers together as winners.
Coach John Emme, who led the Sea Kings (21-5, 11-4 in league) to their first 20-win season since 2004, was unable to coach the quintet one last time. Tom Gentile, a CdM assistant, filled in for Emme.
Emme said via text that he was in Puerto Rico at a conference for teachers, marriage and family therapists, and counselors.
“I love those kids,” said Emme, who last coached the five CdM players three weeks ago, when the Sea Kings lost at Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon, 7-3, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs. “All five have been a huge part of our success the last two years. They will be sorely missed, but I know they will be back and remain part of the program as they move on to the next stage of their lives.”
