CdM and Uni players exchange handshakes after the Saturday’s game. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Corona del Mar’s baseball team held off a seventh inning rally by University to capture a 4-3 non-league victory Saturday over the Trojans on a windy day at CdM.
CdM (3-2) was led by senior left-hander Stevie Jones, who got the win pitching the first six innings. He struck out 12 and allowed five hits. Brooks Johnson finished on the mound for the Sea Kings.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Photo courtesy Susan. J. Emrich
Photo courtesy Susan J. Emrich
Photo courtesy McCaffrey family
“Bottom line is we won the game, and that’s big for us, where we are right now,” said CdM Coach Kevin McCaffrey. “I’m proud of the kids to come away with a win, I thought we had situations where we could have done some things a little better to put us in a better situation throughout the game, but bottom line, the kids found a way to win the game, and that’s pretty special.”
McCaffrey is counting on another big year from Jones. The CdM team consisting of 13 players has four sophomores starting so he’s learning on Jones even more thisseason.
“I can’t say enough about him,” McCaffrey said. “He just tied the school record in wins (21) and last week he broke the record in strikeouts. The guy was dealing and we’re going to go as he goes. Stevie is our guy.”
“It was wild, it was a good victory,” said Jones, 1-2 on the season. “The team deserved it. We worked hard at practice all week and I thought we played well offensively and defensively today so it worked out.”
Jones downplayed getting the record.
“It’s cool, I’m just trying to do as best for the team and play as best as I can,” he said. “Records will just come along with it.”
CdM took a 4-1 lead going into the seventh inning but University (2-4) tried to battle back. Alex Dorfman led off with a walk and Sean Maher and Daisuke Ho singled to load the bases.
Brandon Millman then singled to right field to drive in one run but the runner who had to wait on whether the ball dropped was thrown out at second base and another runner was thrown out at third base to complete a double play.
“I haven’t seen that before,” McCaffrey said. “It got a little hairy at the end ….. but that really helped us out.”
Johnson then struck out Luke Emrich to end the game.
“We faced a pretty good arm,” said Uni Coach Jesse Anderson. “We battled all game and kept ourselves in it to the end and we had a few things not go our way, we loaded the bases with no out and just kind of ran into a double play which took us out of it. We had every opportunity to tie and win the game, we just came up a little short, that’s baseball.”
University (2-4) scored a run in the top of the second inning to take an early lead. Andrew Shean doubled and scored on a single by Lucas Haun.
CdM tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. Will Chavez reached on an error, stole second and third and came home on an RBI single by Brady Zenz.
The Sea Kings added three runs in the third inning. Jack Phillips had an RBI single and Jacob Olson drove in two runs with a double. The rally started when Charlie Kaster reached on an error and came around to score.
The Trojans cut the lead to 4-2 with a run in the sixth inning. Emrich doubled with one out and scored on a single by Shean.
Vince Maxim started for University and battled through four innings.
“Vince pitched pretty well, he gave up one real hit that kind of opened up the game a little bit and kind of put in a hole, but I’m proud of the team for being able to work through it and battle back and one hit away from tying and winning it,” Anderson said.
McCaffrey, the CdM coach, missed one of the Sea Kings games last week as he and his wife Brooke celebrated the birth of their second child, a baby boy Easton.
“I missed the Tustin game last week, then back full-time this week,” McCaffrey said. “It shows you there are more important things than the baseball, being with him and my daughter and wife, it’s been a pretty special week.”
The McCaffreys also have a daughter, 4-year-old Marlee.
Saturday’s game was against McCaffrey’s former team at University, where he coached for 11 years before moving to CdM.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
More Stories
Trabuco Hills rallies in late innings for non-league victory over La Habra
Three Fullerton pitchers combine on a shutout in Anaheim Lions Tournament victory
PHOTOS: Crean Lutheran powers past Centennial, reaches CIF State regional semifinals