High School Baseball: Larsen delivers another shutout for CdM
Rare is it to see Corona del Mar High pitcher Evan Larsen flinch on the baseball field. In the first four weeks of the season, the batters are usually the ones cringing when facing Larsen.
That changed for a moment in the second inning against Northwood on Thursday. With a runner on first base, the junior gave up a double and then he shied away from the ball after it appeared he might allow his first earned run of the season. While backing up catcher Donato Di Ferdinando, the throw home got away.
Larsen, who’s 6-foot-3, got out of the way in a hurry.
“It was scary,” said Larsen, who was surprised Northwood held the runner at third base in a scoreless game in the second inning. “I was going to catch it, but the catcher went to go get it. I flinched and I thought it was going to hit me. I’m not going to get hit in the face right now.”
He survived. The Timberwolves did not.
Larsen threw a four-hitter, recording his fourth shutout in his fifth start for the Sea Kings, who won 5-0 at home. The stellar performance helped CdM stay one game out of first place in the Pacific Coast League.
Northwood, which went into Thursday in a three-way tie for first with Beckman and Woodbridge, now shares second place with CdM and the Warriors at 3-2 in league. Larsen (5-1), who struck out six, walked two and hit a batter, used 91 pitches to become the first hurler to blank the Timberwolves in two years.
“What Evan Larsen is doing is pretty remarkable,” said Sea Kings Coach John Emme, adding that the three runs against his right-hander have all been unearned. “His ERA is zero.”
The Timberwolves had a chance to get a lead on Larsen early, something their coach, Robert Stuart, looked back on, thinking what if he had sent the runner on Kevin Okuda’s double toward the gap in right-center field.
“You send a guy and he’s out if they play catch,” Stuart said, “and if you don’t send him it looks like you should’ve sent him.”
Against Larsen, teams aren’t going to have many opportunities. Larsen said two NCAA Division I programs have offered him, Cal State Fullerton and San Diego State, while UCLA and UC Irvine are now interested in him. You would understand why, he has 32 strikeouts and only seven walks in 37 innings.
The first inning saw Larsen throw 14 pitches to retire Northwood in order. He struck out the first and last batters looking, working the inside and outside corners.
After picking up his third strikeout for the second out in the next inning, Larsen walked a batter, and the next one, Okuda, delivered Northwood’s first hit. Okuda doubled, and the Timberwolves decided to keep the runner at third base. With runners in scoring position, Larsen induced an inning-ending groundout to third baseman Nick Premer.
Through the first three innings, Northwood stranded three runners. The Sea Kings struggled bringing in runners in the bottom of the third inning. They had Brenden Hueston on third and Preston Hartsell on second after Hueston led off with a walk and stole third after Harstell’s bunt single. With no outs, Okuda (3-2), who lasted four innings, got the next hitters out.
In the fourth, it was Hueston and Hartsell who came through for CdM. After Premer led off with a single and Teddy Stuka followed with a single, Connor Buchanan’s sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position. The Timberwolves intentionally walked Larsen to load the bases and hope for a double-play ball.
They appeared to get it when Hueston hit a grounder to the shortstop, who threw to second base. Hueston beat out the throw to first base and the first run came across. Next up was Hartsell, the No. 8 hitter, who went two for two. A pitch after Hueston swiped second to give CdM runners on third and second, Hartsell hit one over the second baseman’s head and drove in two runs with a double, putting the Sea Kings up, 3-0.
That was more than enough run support for Larsen, who received some nice defensive plays from Stuka at first base. Twice in the fifth inning, the 6-7 Stuka bailed out two of Premer’s errant throws from third base, having to come off the bag to catch the ball and tag the player running up the first-base line. If not for those plays, Northwood, which saw Andrew Kim and Josh Lopez single in consecutive at-bats, Northwood might have ended Larsen’s shutout bid.
“We always yell out [to Stuka], ‘Way to be tall!’” Emme said with a laugh.
Stuka also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to left field in the fifth, and JT Schwartz, who went three for four, added a run with a single to center in the sixth. Larsen came out for the seventh and needed only 10 pitches to record his second 1-2-3 inning.
Twelve games into the season, CdM is one win away from matching last season’s overall win total. The Sea Kings (7-5) should get to that number or surpass it next week during the Beach Pit Classic. They open the 16-team tournament at home on Monday against Yreka, which is from Northern California.
“It’s a good time … to get some other guys in,” Emme said of how he plans to approach the tournament, which starts Saturday and will also feature two other Newport-Mesa programs in Newport Harbor and Estancia. “People that are worn down a little bit will get to get healthy. We can give Donato’s thumb a little bit of a rest [from catching Larsen].”
One of Larsen’s fingers wasn’t doing so well either.
“As of right now, I have a little blister [on my right middle] finger I got from last game,” Larsen said. “Hopefully I’ll toughen out and maybe pitch a little bit [during the Beach Pit Classic]. As of right now, we’re just going to talk about it and see how I’m feeling.”
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Pacific Coast League
Corona del Mar 5, Northwood 0
SCORE BY INNING
Northwood 000 000 0 – 0 4 0
Corona del Mar 000 311 x – 5 7 0
Okuda, Yonamine (5) and Lee; Larsen and Di Ferdinando. W – Larsen, 5-1. L – Okuda, 3-2. 2B – Okuda (B), Hartsell (CdM).