Prep Baseball : Mahoney’s One-Hitter Leads Newport Harbor

The Newport Harbor High School baseball team has been besieged by injuries of late, including No. 1 pitcher Jon Dishon who will be lost for the season because of illness.

It’s gotten so bad that Coach Wayne Heck has had to call up junior varsity players and make junior Tom Mahoney, a kid Heck describes as being, “six-foot-two and a hundred pounds,” his top pitcher.

What Mahoney lacks in weight (he actually weighs 165 pounds) he makes up for with a variety of off-speed pitches. Those pitches worked to perfection on Saturday as he pitched no-hit ball against Costa Mesa before allowing a double leading off the seventh inning. He finished with a one-hitter to lead the Sailors to a 7-0 Sea View League win at Costa Mesa.

Mahoney (3-3) struck out eight and walked one to improve Newport Harbor’s record to 4-2 in league. Mahoney, who showed some signs of inconsistency earlier in the season has pitched 11 consecutive scoreless innings.

Ed Milum, another junior varsity grad, was also impressive. He got the Sailors’ first run on a second-inning home run. Considering the injuries and the shuffling he’s had to do with the lineup, Heck was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I think this is our best game of the year,” Heck said. “We made good defensive plays had a good offensive day, they played very well but we were just on today.”

In Sunset League action:

Huntington Beach 1, Westminster 0 (9 innings)--Ed Lidyoff pitched a shutout and scored the only run of the game as the Oilers (5-2 in league and 10-5 overall) moved into sole possession of first place by beating the Lions (2-4, 5-8) at Huntington Beach. Lidyoff, who struck out four and allowed four hits in improving his record to 2-3, led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a single. One out later, he was sacrificed to second and attempted to steal third with Stan Anderson at the plate. Lidyoff then score when catcher Daniel Villegas’ throw sailed into left field.

In nonleague action:

Mater Dei 6-4, Bonanza 0-2--The Monarchs, led by shortstop Bob Dejardin who went 3 for 6 with an RBI and five stolen bases, swept the doubleheader against the team from Las Vegas. Anthony Follico got his 25th RBI of the season going 2 for 5.