CdM wakes up in Classic

CORONA DEL MAR — There maybe were a few raised eyebrows in the Corona del Mar High baseball team dugout, but no frowns.

Sure, giving up five runs in the top of the first inning wasn’t exactly the ideal beginning for CdM’s first-round game at the Beach Pit Classic.

But all that meant was that it was time for the bats to start working, and they definitely did. The Sea Kings rallied for an 11-7 victory over Northwood on Saturday.

Corona del Mar advanced to the quarterfinals on Monday at 11 a.m. against Canyon of Canyon Country, also at CdM. Canyon defeated Rancho Alamitos, 10-0.

The Sea Kings’ victory wasn’t surprising to Coach John Emme. His team was coming off a 6-0 league loss at Laguna Hills on Friday, but always seems to come together for the tournament that CdM helps host.

Last year, the Sea Kings finished second in the 16-team tournament. Two years ago, they won the consolation championship.

“At tournament time, the kids seem to always react,” Emme said. “We get to move kids around and try different things with the lineup. I was expecting us to come out and play well, and we did.”

CdM (7-8) got two of the runs back in the bottom of the first against Northwood lefty Chris Horrell, with a two-out rally. Matt Morris singled, and Danny Moskovits doubled down the left-field line to put runners on second and third.

Michael Bloom then connected on a single up the middle, scoring both runners to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Bloom, a junior shortstop, went three for four with four RBIs on Saturday. In his last two games, he’s six for seven.

“This was definitely a good win,” Bloom said. “It was good to get the bats going again, because last game we got shut out.”

The Sea Kings were down 7-3 in the fourth inning before senior Garrett Amoroso launched a solo home run, his first of the season. The ball kept carrying to get over the left-fiend fence, just to the right of the “330” sign.

“It was the best my swing could be,” Amaroso said. “I just made contact and hit it. I wasn’t thinking about it.”

But it left CdM thinking rally, and that’s what the Sea Kings got an inning later against Northwood (8-7). Moskovits led off by drawing a full-count walk, then Bloom poked a double down the line. Beau Attyah drew a walk, while Moskovits simultaneously scored on a passed ball.

Amoroso then hit a grounder to first, but the first baseman hesitated to either throw home for a play on Bloom or run to the bag. Everyone was safe, pulling CdM within a run at 7-6.

After Andy Rovzar walked to load the bases, Will Morrow and Kevin Holland followed with RBI singles to left and right, respectively, to give the Sea Kings an 8-7 lead.

“We have the same mentality the whole game, just try to string together some hits, and we usually come through in the late half of the game,” Amaroso said. “We bounced back, put together some hits, not trying to do too much.”

Morris then drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run. With two outs, Bloom hit a two-RBI single to right to give CdM its final margin of victory and a season-high in runs.

“We had a real good approach with two strikes,” Emme said. “Michael Bloom and a few others just said, ‘OK, we’re going to put it in play,’ and good things happened.”

Sophomore Parker Werline earned his first varsity win for the Sea Kings, coming on in relief of freshman starter Sam Cubiero. Werline shut out the Timberwolves from the fifth inning on, allowing two hits and striking out one.

“We brought [Cubiero] up one other time, when we had a game sandwiched between two league games,” said Emme of the freshman who earned the win against Estancia on March 25. “We’ve got three games next week, and we needed to rest our arms. Sam did a great job, and Parker picked up his first career win. Now, we’ll have our whole staff rested for the three games next week.”

The title game is Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Costa Mesa, not at CdM as was originally scheduled.

Beach Pit Classic

First round

Corona del Mar 11, Northwood 7

SCORE BY INNINGS

Horrell, Effler (5), Munson (6) and Wagner; Cubiero, Werline (5), Rovzar (7) and Attyah. W – Werline, 1-0. L – Effler, 2-2. 2B – Kawata (N), Hara (N), Moskovits (CdM), Bloom (CdM). HR – Amoroso (CdM).

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.