Corona del Mar pitcher Evan Larsen was on the bench, surveying the Woodbridge outfield.
“That’s a little peculiar,” said Larsen, noting that the right fielder was playing rather shallow with Corona del Mar second baseman Robby Hurst’s at-bat with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and the Sea Kings trailing Woodbridge by two runs.
Hurst noticed it, too. He launched the ball deep into the right-center field gap to clear the bases as Corona del Mar rallied to beat Woodbridge, 5-3, Tuesday in a Pacific Coast League baseball game at Corona del Mar.
Corona del Mar and Woodbridge are tied for second place in the six-team league. They are 7-3 in league, one game behind Beckman, which beat University on Tuesday to improve to 8-2 in league. The top three Pacific Coast League finishers receive guaranteed entry into the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.
Larsen pitched a complete game for Corona del Mar, which is 16-3 overall. Larsen, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound right-hander who signed with Cal State Fullerton, struck out 11 and allowed five hits and one walk.
Larsen is 7-1 with a 0.70 ERA. He has an outstanding strikeouts-to-walks ratio, 67 strikeouts to eight walks in 581/3 innings.
Woodbridge, 14-7 overall, took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Shoma Yoshida doubled and scored on a double by Chase Bradley, who later scored on a wild pitch.
The Sea Kings got their first run in the fourth inning. Kevin McCarthy singled, advanced to second on Preston Hartsell’s single and to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Brenden Heuston’s ground out to shortstop.
The Warriors made it 3-1 in the top of the sixth when Jared Kaleikini doubled, stole third and scored on Aharon Modlin’s ground out to shortstop.
In the Corona del Mar sixth, singles by McCarthy, JT Schwartz and Heuston loaded the bases. Hurst then sent a high-and-away, 1-2 fastball to right-center field for his three-run double. Just like Larsen thought he would.
“I said, ‘Why doesn’t he hit the ball right there?’” Larsen recounted. “And what does he do? He hits the ball right there.”
Like Larsen, Hurst saw the expanse of open field in right-center. And he guessed right on the pitch, which Woodbridge starter Jake Larson had fooled him on during an earlier at bat.
“I sort of knew I’d get that again,” Hurst said, “and I took advantage of it.”
A moment of confusion was part of the game’s conclusion.
Woodbridge had runners on first and second with two outs. On a 2-2 count, Kaleikini took a partial swing, and missed, at a low-and-outside breaking ball that caromed off of Corona del mar catcher Donato DiFerdinando. DiFerdinando retrieved the ball, threw to first and beat Kaleikini for what appeared to be the game’s final out and celebration ensued.
Umpires ruled that Kaleikini had not swung at the pitch, making it a ball and changing the count to 3-2. They ordered the Woodbridge runners, who had advanced on the pitch, back to first and second. After some umpire-coach discussions, Larsen struck out Kaleikini looking on the next pitch to end the game.
Larson pitched well for Woodbridge. He struck out eight with one walk. Larson is 6-3 with a 1.15 ERA.
Also in the Pacific Coast League:
No. 9 Beckman 7, University 4: Austin Schell had three hits and drove three runs for the visiting, league-leading Patriots (18-3 overall, 8-2 league).
Irvine 7, Northwood 2: Cameron Kouri and Nick Lind-Jensen drove in two runs each and Leonard Memon pitched a complete game for the visiting Vaqueros (6-15, 2-8).
In the Garden Grove League:
Garden Grove 6, Bolsa Grande 5: Orlando De la Cueva had two RBI for the league-leading Argonauts (11-7, 8-2).
In the South Coast League:
No. 5 Aliso Niguel 3, Dana Hills 2: Zak Nocon pitched a complete game to improve to 8-1 for the host Wolverines (16-8, 5-4). Connor Kokx drove in two runs for Aliso Niguel, and David Clawson homererd for the Dolphins (11-12, 4-3).
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
