Newport has sixth-inning troubles

Chris Yemma

In a battle of unadulterated offenses, the Newport Harbor Baseball

Association Bronco All-Star baseball team came out with the short

straw.

Visiting Dana Point sent 12 batters to the plate in the sixth

inning and pulled away for an eventual 13-9 victory in the

quarterfinals of the West zone-South section tournament for the 11-

and 12-year-old age group Saturday at York Field.

Relegated to the second-chance bracket, Newport Harbor will play

at 12:30 today at the same location.

“Sometimes you have innings where everything doesn’t go right,”

Newport Coach Aaron Rios said, referring to Saturday’s sixth inning,

when Dana Point had hit through the rotation before Newport had

induced an out.

“It was just a combination of a lot of different people, making

mistakes at different times.”

Newport committed three errors in the inning and went through

three pitchers, as Dana Point tacked on six runs before Newport

forced an out. Newport entered the inning leading, 8-5, and exited

down, 12-9.

Regardless, Newport still has a legitimate shot at advancing to

the region tournament in Rios’ mind.

“We went through the second-chance bracket of the Garden Grove

tournament and battled out of it,” Rios said. “We’re hitting well

right now, and we’re scoring a lot of runs.”

Both teams Saturday combined for 22 hits and 22 runs during the 2

1/2 -hour contest.

Newport’s slugfest was led by Austin Rios, who went 4 for 4 with

two RBIs and three runs scored. Hayden Cornwell was 3 for 4 with a

triple, double, two RBIs and two runs scored; Angelo Angelides was 2

for 4 with three RBIs; Max Gerard was 2 for 2 with two runs scored;

and Spencer Rautus, Charles Coakley and Sean Sullivan all scored a

run.

“We’re playing well right now, but when you score [nine] runs, you

should win the game,” the elder Rios said. “It was a tough loss for

us.”

Newport Harbor used a three-run fourth inning sparked by Austin

Bagby and the younger Rios to pull ahead, 7-5.

Gerard led off with a single that skimmed off the second baseman’s

glove. Coakley then reached first on an error and Sullivan drew a

walk to load the bases. After a force out at home, Rios slugged an

RBI single, followed by a two-run double to center by Bagby.

Newport held on until the sixth inning, when the unraveling began.

In the bottom of the first inning, Newport tied the score at 2

with hits from Rios, Bagby and Angelides. Rios led off with a single

and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice. He stole third and was

brought home on a two-run double by Angelides.

Dana Point was led by Andrew Richards, who went 3 for 3 at the

plate and was hit by a pitch. He reached base four times and

accounted for a double and four runs scored. Nico Darras was 3 for 5

with a double and three runs scored.

Newport’s combined pitching of Michael Salam, Cornwell, Coakley

and Rios held Dana Point to 10 runs, while Cornwell tossed the fourth

and fifth innings, allowing no runs and just two hits.

And despite the six-run sixth inning, Newport had only allowed two

hits.

“When you are playing at this level, you occasionally have innings

like that,” Rios said. “Our pitchers did pretty well. Austin came in

and shut them down.”

Newport had reached Saturday’s quarterfinals with a 9-3 victory

over Irvine Friday in the first round of the tournament.

Against Irvine, Rautus was 3 for 5 with three RBIs, Rios was 3

for 5 with one RBI and one run scored, Cornwell was 2 for 4 with two

RBIs, Angelides was 2 for 4 with one RBI and Coakley was 1 for 2 with

three runs scored.

On the mound, Cornwell had four strikeouts in three innings. Salam

tossed three innings, giving up just one run and Coakley closed out

with a no-hit inning.

“It’s been a great season for us,” Aaron Rios said Saturday. “No

one thought we would go this far because we had such a poor start,

but the guys have been playing well.”

Other contributors throughout both games for Newport Harbor

included Nelson Simons, Zack Beaudin and Bryan Guzman.