High School Baseball: Sea Kings stunned at home
Not often has Evan Larsen allowed three or more runs in an inning this year. It had only happened twice in 75 2/3 innings.
On Thursday, in Larsen’s CIF Southern Section playoff debut with Corona del Mar High, the right-hander gave up three runs in the second inning. A blister on the side of Larsen’s right middle finger gave him problems against Rancho Alamitos, which scored twice more on Larsen in the sixth to spoil CdM’s first postseason appearance in three years.
Rancho Alamitos pulled off a 7-5 upset in a Division 3 first-round game at CdM, preventing the Sea Kings from recording their first playoff win in three years.
The Vaqueros (20-6) beat the No. 7-ranked team in Division 3, holding on to the very end to hand one of the best junior pitchers in Southern California a loss. Larsen (9-4), who has offers from Cal State Fullerton and San Diego State, and is talking with UCLA, almost saw his team rally with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Larsen, who in 5 2/3 innings was charged with five earned runs and six hits, had a glimmer of hope late. The Sea Kings, who trailed, 7-3, loaded the bases against starter Shane Zielinski in the seventh. They had their clean-up hitter, Brenden Hueston, up, and the junior drove in two runs with a single to right field.
Zielinski stayed in the game after giving up his 12th hit. With runners on first and second, CdM brought in Justin Hess to pinch-hit for reliever Tommy Paoletti.
Zielinski, who hadn’t struck out anyone, picked a good time to mow down someone. The junior threw a high fastball and Hess missed it, ensuring Rancho Alamitos’ first playoff win in four years.
“We’ve always had trouble with this league,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Greg Pines said of the Pacific Coast League CdM is a part of and finished second in this year. “We’ve lost to Laguna Hills [seven] years ago in the [first round of the] playoffs [when Laguna Hills was in the league]. University [beat us in the second round in 2011]. It’s a tough league.”
Zielinski (6-1) went the distance for the fifth time in seven starts for Rancho Alamitos, which shared the Garden Grove League title. He helped the Vaqueros reach the second round on Tuesday, when they play host to defending section champion La Puente Bishop Amat (15-12-1).
Even though CdM (17-10) scored five runs on Zielinski, who went into the game having only surrendered three runs in 40 1/3 innings, and Alex Shadid, Hueston, JT Schwartz and Preston Hartsell each produced a double, he went right at the Sea Kings. The right-hander never walked a batter in his seven innings, compared to Larsen, who put three runners on, matching a season high for walks.
Control wasn’t an issue for Larsen at the start. He threw lights out in the first inning, all of his eight pitches going for strikes. The first three struck out DJ Cortez, and he got the next two outs via a fly ball and a grounder.
The next inning wasn’t as smooth for Larsen.
Rancho Alamitos jumped on Larsen right away. Josh Rodney led off with an infield single. Two pitches later, Zielinski, batting left-handed, pulled a curveball down the first-base bag for a triple, scoring Rodney.
Larsen began to struggle with his command, walking Alfredo Llort. On the next pitch, Llort stole second base, giving the Vaqueros runners in scoring position. Sammy Osuna singled one run in and Jake Santos’ sacrifice fly brought in another run to put Rancho Alamitos ahead, 3-0.
The last time Larsen gave up three runs in an inning was on May 5 in a 7-2 loss at home to Beckman. At the time, the outing in which he allowed nine hits, walked three and hit one in 6 2/3 innings turned out to be Larsen’s roughest of the year.
The Sea Kings didn’t provide Larsen with any run support in the first four innings against Rancho Alamitos, stranding a runner at third base in the third and a runner on second base in the fourth.
The bats came alive for CdM in the bottom of the fifth.
Shadid started the Sea Kings’ comeback, hitting it hard up the middle and off Zielinski’s glove for his second hit. After Zielinski got the second out, Kevin McCarthy, a lefty, laid down a nice bunt toward third, forcing Zielinski to field it. He did, but McCarthy beat Zielinski’s throw to first base.
Zielinski’s next throw was to the plate to Robby Hurst, who went the other way to right field, singling in CdM’s first run. After Hurst’s second of three singles on the day, Schwartz evened things up at 3-3 with a two-run double down the right-field line.
Larsen returned for the sixth, and after recording the first two outs, his blister worsened. His last eight pitches were the complete opposite of his first eight.
Larsen threw eight straight balls, walking Llort and Osuna. Sea Kings Coach John Emme came out to the mound to see what was wrong. The blood on Larsen’s middle finger explained it all.
“It was a shame Evan came up with a blister that, you know, came out of nowhere, and it was obviously affecting him,” said Emme, who only loses five seniors, while key players like Larsen, and three players who started as freshmen, Hartsell in the outfield, Chazz Martinez on the mound and Schwartz at shortstop, plan to return next year for Emme’s 19th season in charge of the Sea Kings. “I’m not sure when [the blister] appeared. I noticed it in the inning that we took him out, but Evan’s a bulldog. He’s going to, you know, try to fight through stuff.
“It’s never fun to go out [in the first round], but that’s playoff baseball.”
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CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs
First round
Rancho Alamitos 7, Corona del Mar 5
SCORE BY INNINGS
Rancho Alamitos 030 003 1 – 7 10 0
Corona del Mar 000 030 2 – 5 12 0
Zielinski and Rodney; Larsen, Martinez (6), Paoletti (7) and Di Ferdinando. W – Zielinski, 6-1. L – Larsen, 9-4. 2B – Shadid (CdM), Hueston (CdM), Schwartz (CdM) Hartsell (CdM). 3B – Zielinski (RA).
[For the record, 12:01 p.m. May 22: The Corona del Mar High Sea Kings’ last playoff win was in 2012, not 2009 as stated incorrectly in a previous version of this article.]