Baseball: Diablos strong-arm Sailors, 9-0
Richard Dunn
NEWPORT BEACH - Checking out Mission Viejo High’s pitching staff,
you get the feeling you’re thumbing through Baseball America and reading
about top prospects.
Coach Jim Kiefer’s Newport Harbor Sailors got a good glimpse of the
Diablos’ hurlers Saturday in the opening round of the 16-team Pride of the Coast Tournament.
And, well, let’s just say the Tars are probably glad they don’t have
to face those arms anymore.
“Mission Viejo has a very good ballclub,” Kiefer said, following his
hosting team’s 9-0 setback to the Diablos (10-5-1), ranked 10th in Orange
County.
“They’re a well-deserving team to be in the county rankings, and they
pitched really well.”
Right-hander Garrett Murdy, the Diablos’ highly touted 6-foot-4,
215-pound senior pitching prospect, didn’t throw against the Sailors
(5-11), who lost their first non-Sea View League game of the season in
five starts.
But Murdy came up as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and turned
on a Chris Ward fastball for a two-run home run to cap the Diablos’
four-run frame, turning what was a close game (3-0 through five innings)
into a rout.
It was Murdy’s second at-bat of the season. “He’s just like that,”
Mission Viejo Coach Chris Ashbach said. “He either strikes out or hits a
home run. He knows his role (on the team as a starting pitcher and not an
everyday hitter). He just ran into a fastball. He’s a big, strong kid.”
After Mission Viejo junior left-hander Travis Herwehe tied the Sailors
in knots for 5 2/3 innings, freshman right-hander Chris Jones completed
the two-hit shutout for the Diablos, giving up no hits in his varsity
debut.
Jones, who also comes with size (6-2, 210) on the mound, brings his
fastball consistently in the 88-mph range and, despite being a freshman
who has never pitched varsity baseball, has drawn the attention of top
colleges.
“He has already received letters from USC,” Ashbach said. “I really
don’t know how (four-year colleges) find out about these kids.”
Ashbach has kept Jones on the JV this season so the pitching phenom
can swing the bat on a regular basis, “but arm- and velocity-wise, he’s
ready to pitch up here ... I’m excited,” added Ashbach, who doesn’t want
to put too much pressure on Jones, but grinned when asked about his
baseball future.
As far as Newport Harbor’s future is concerned, it will come Monday in
a consolation game against Santa Ana Valley at Newport Harbor at 11 a.m.
Pacifica defeated Valley, 10-8.
The Sailors’ only hits Saturday came in the first inning when Alan
Lane singled to right field and in the fifth when Cody Forsythe opened
with a single to center. The Tars never got a runner past second base.
“It was a good game for five-plus innings, but we didn’t get anything
going offensively, we didn’t cash in when we had the opportunities, and
we let the door open in the later innings,” Kiefer said.
Newport Harbor, which has struggled in league (2-9) and lost eight of
its last nine overall, had two runners aboard with nobody out in the
second, after Donovan Wong walked and Cameron Pemstein sacrificed him to
second and reached safely on a throwing error to first.
But Herwehe, a left-hander, caught the next Harbor hitter looking at
strike three and coaxed Lu Castillo and Forsythe into fly outs to end the
threat in a scoreless game.
Newport junior right-hander Shane Glenn, making his third start of the
campaign, was pulled after 3 2/3 innings, down only 2-0. After Glenn
walked the No. 9 hitter with first base open on a 3-2 changeup, Kiefer
came out with a hook and brought in left-hander Forsythe to face Mission
Viejo leadoff hitter David Hudgins, also a lefty.
The move backfired as Hudgins walked, but the Diablos finished the
fourth inning with only two runs and left the bases loaded against
Forsythe, who struck out No. 3 hitter Billy Hart to end the rally. Hart,
the center fielder who has signed with USC to play football, was Mission
Viejo’s leading hitter last season at .409 with 23 RBIs.
Mission will play Pacifica in the quarterfinals Monday at Newport at 2
p.m.
PRIDE OF THE COAST
Mission Viejo 9, Newport Harbor 0
Mission Viejo 001 202 4 - 9 12 2
Newport Harbor 000 000 0 - 0 2 2
Herwehe, Jones (6) and Brennan; Glenn, Forsythe (4), Ward (6) and
Brant. 2B - Hanson (MV) 2. HR - Murdy (MV).
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