High School Baseball: Sailors open with split
A couple of long delays by the home plate umpire in the sixth inning prompted some in the crowd to inform him that he was calling two baseball games, not only one on Saturday.
Fans heckled the umpire to speed things up, to let host Newport Harbor High and Esperanza play ball. The teams wound up playing more than seven innings in the first game of a doubleheader.
What a way to open the season: a full day of baseball, 16 innings in all.
The Aztecs took the first game, a nine-inning affair, 8-6. The next game went only seven innings and it went to Newport Harbor, 7-4.
The first game of the season lasted 3 hours, 5 minutes. Mistakes at the end of the marathon cost the Sailors.
The Aztecs capitalized on an infield fielding error with one out in the top of the ninth, as well as a wild pitch on ball four with two outs. With runners on the corners, Eric Bigani hit a double into the gap in right-center field, driving in two runs to put Esperanza on top for the first time.
Ryan Wilson entered the ninth to close things out. Tyler Domene earned the win, striking out two and allowing one hit in two scoreless innings in relief.
Esperanza used four pitchers and the Sailors went with three. Hugh Gibbs picked up the loss after giving up four runs in 32/3 innings. Gibbs took over for starter Jeremiah Sheldon.
Sheldon, a left-hander, turned in five solid innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs. He also went three for four with a run batted in.
The Sailors’ bats supported Sheldon in the bottom of the first with two runs. Jake Genova singled up the middle, and two batters later, his twin brother, Luke, walked on four pitches. With runners on first and second, designated hitter Sean Korkmaz drove them in with a double over left fielder Sean Noguchi’s head.
While the Aztecs’ left fielder couldn’t prevent an extra-base hit, Newport Harbor’s did in the second inning.
Right after right fielder Josh Spicer made a nice catch in shallow right field, in traffic with second baseman Dylan Kaplan and first baseman Luke Genova nearby, freshman John Olmstead topped that. With two outs and a runner on first, Dennis Hildebrandt hit what looked like a sure extra-base hit to left that would cut the deficit in half. But Olmstead went flying to his right, diving to make an incredible catch to end the inning.
The defense continued to back Sheldon. Spicer robbed Cameron Bashta of a two-run home run in the third, leaping next to the 274-foot sign in the right-field corner to make the inning-ending grab.
The Sailors gave Sheldon more support, in the form of offense. They followed up their first two-run inning with another two runs in the third. Luke Genova, who went two for four, pulled starter Blake Schriever’s fastball over the left-field fence for a two-run home run.
The four-run lead didn’t hold up. Esperanza got its first hit off Sheldon in the fourth, Steven Rodriguez singled to right.
The hit was one of three for the Aztecs in the inning, but it wasn’t a hit that produced their first run. A double steal did. With two down and runners on the corners, catcher Max Crabbe tried to get the runner swiping second, only to see Rodriguez take off for home and score.
The fifth inning is when Esperanza evened things up. Sheldon hit the first batter he faced, and then allowed two straight singles, one of those cut the deficit in half. The Sailors inability to turn an inning-ending double play and make an inning-ending routine throw from second to first allowed the Aztecs to tie it at 4-4.
Newport Harbor jumped ahead in the bottom of the fifth. Facing a new pitcher in Brandon Lock, Korkmaz, Spicer, Cade Seabold and Sheldon each singled, the latter two both drove in a run to put the Sailors up, 6-4.
A second error in as many innings by the Sailors gave Esperanza a chance to get even, and it did. The Aztecs made it a 6-6 game, taking advantage of a fielding error in left field.
Things got testy before the inning wrapped up. The umpire first warned Esperanza for celebrating outside of the dugout. Then when Bashta threw his bat when he popped up to shortstop Kyle Carmack, the umpire ejected Bashta.
“You can’t be an umpire with an attitude like that,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “My guy threw the bat [toward the left], and he said he threw it at the catcher.”
Bashta’s day was done, his team’s wasn’t.
After it rallied to claim the opening game, Esperanza fell behind again. Coming back against starter Luke Genova, a Santa Clara University-bound senior, would be difficult.
After four innings in Game 2, the Sailors led, 5-0. Seabold doubled in a run to left in the second inning, and in the third, Jake Genova, a left-handed hitter, went the other way to double in a run. The next double to drive in a run in the inning belonged to Spicer, who hit it off the left-field fence for his second double.
A suicide squeeze play by Jake Genova added another run in the fourth for the Sailors. The offense almost didn’t seem enough for Newport Harbor.
Esperanza put across four runs in the fifth. Only two hits, a triple by Rodriguez, who went two for four, and a single by Justin Salcido, brought in half of the runs. The rest of the runs were a result of a passed ball and a double steal.
The runs were more than enough for Luke Genova to earn the win. He lasted 42/3 innings, giving up four earns runs, while striking out four and walking five. The Sailors added two insurance runs in the sixth to seal it.
“It’s a long day, and that was a very, very emotional first game,” said Newport Harbor Coach Evan Chalmers, whose top two hitters during the doubleheader were Sheldon (five for eight) and Spicer (four for eight with three doubles). “Our pitching was very, very strong. We were forcing the issue on the hitters. We were sorry not to get that [first] game, but a play here or there and we could’ve easily had two [wins].”
Nonleague
Game 1
Esperanza 8,
Newport Harbor 6
SCORE BY INNINGS
Esperanza 000 132 002 – 8 10 0
Newport 202 020 000 – 6 12 3
Schriever, Lock (5), Domene (6), Wilson (9) and Bigani; Sheldon, Gibbs (6), Montgomery (9) and Crabbe. W – Domene, 1-0. L – Gibbs, 0-1. Sv – Wilson. 2B – Bigani (E), Korkmaz (NH), Spicer (NH), Crabbe (NH). HR – L. Genova (NH).
Game 2
Newport Harbor 7,
Esperanza 4
SCORE BY INNINGS
Esperanza 000 040 0 – 4 8 3
Newport 013 102 x – 7 7 0
Pettibone, Wilson (5) and Bigani, Salcido (4); L. Genova, Perry (5), Littley (7) and Korkmaz. W – L. Genova, 1-0. L – Pettibone, 0-1. 2B – Spicer (NH) 2, Seabold (NH), J. Genova (NH), Olmstead (NH). 3B – Rodriguez (E).
Twitter: @ByCDP
