Sea Kings fight on

Rick Devereux

The first three pitches Todd Macklin threw for Corona del Mar High

Tuesday were not exactly the type of throws that attracted USC scouts

to recruiting the senior.

The right-hander hit the leadoff hitter from Tesoro with the first

pitch of the game and sailed the next two offerings high above the

strike zone. But the way Macklin responded surely calmed any worries

the Trojans may have had.

“Todd had dominant stuff, but just control problems a little bit,”

CdM Coach John Emme said. “He was throwing hard.”

Macklin recovered to strike out two in the first inning en route

to a solid five-strikeout afternoon, leading Corona del Mar to a 16-6

Pacific Coast League victory over the Titans.

The Sea Kings’ bats were also dominant, lining singles into the

outfield for much of the game against southpaw starter Derek

Craddock.

“With a left-hander that doesn’t throw particularly hard you’ve

got to [aim your hits toward] right-center all the way, and the first

two innings the guys did an excellent job of executing our game

plan,” Emme said. “The kids did a nice job of having an idea of what

they wanted to do at the plate.”

First baseman Barrett Sprowl, third baseman Tyler Lance and

catcher Wess Presson each finished with three RBIs for the Sea Kings,

but the entire Corona del Mar team was productive at the plate with

10 different players scoring runs.

“Tyler Lance, Dan Whitaker, Barrett Sprowl, Wess Presson, all

those guys had big offensive days,” Emme said. “To a man, every

inning we hit the ball hard.”

Sprowl put the Sea Kings on the scoreboard in the first inning

with an RBI single that scored Josh Bradbury and evened the game,

1-1, and two batters later Lance knocked in Sprowl on a double to

deep right-center to give Corona del Mar the lead for good. Lance

advanced to third on a wild throw and scored when Whitaker singled up

the middle. The Sea Kings never looked back.

Corona del Mar scored three in the second inning, as well,

highlighted by Presson’s two-RBI drive to center. Tesoro left fielder

Nik Nelson crushed the ball to center field in the fourth inning for

a stand-up double and eventually scored to shorten the lead to 6-2,

but the Sea Kings answered in the bottom half of the inning with five

runs of their own, sparked by Jake Lemmerman’s two-RBI shot to right

to make it 11-2.

Macklin allowed four runs in the sixth inning, throwing two wild

pitches and hitting a batsman, but the Corona del Mar lead was too

wide for the Titans to overcome. The Sea Kings added five more runs

in the bottom of the sixth, sending 10 batters to the plate. Junior

Aaron Harper came in to close out the game in the seventh to keep

Corona del Mar (11-5 overall, 6-0 league) ahead of second-place

Tesoro (9-8, 4-2).

“This is our biggest game thus far,” Emme said. “They don’t get

much bigger than this and the kids sure responded.”

The two teams face off again Friday, but Emme doesn’t think a win

will be as easy as Tuesday’s.

“They’re a good team and they’ll be ready on Friday. They’ll be

ready for us. They need that game if they want a shot at the league

crown,” Emme said.

*--*

Pacific Coast League

Corona del Mar 16, Tesoro 6

Score by Innings

Tesoro 100 104 0 -- 6 7 3

CdM 330 505 x -- 16 17 3

Craddock, Hill (4), Trujillo (6), Senters

(6) and Torrie; Macklin, Harper (6) and

Presson. W -- Macklin, 6-1. L --

Craddock, 0-2. 2B -- Craddock (T) 2,

Lance (CdM), Nelson (T), Sprowl (CdM),

Hamren (T).

*--*