Sea View League : Stride Is Right, and University Defeats Estancia to Move Into First-Place Tie

It would probably take a perfect game to please University High School pitcher Mark Stride.

Stride had just thrown a gem of a game--a seven-hitter with 12 strikeouts--to lead the Trojans to an 11-1 victory over Estancia Friday in a Sea View League game played at University.

But afterward, the soft-spoken, senior right-hander who moved from Hawaii to Irvine last fall, seemed to dwell as much on the run he allowed on a wild pitch in the fourth inning as his strong, overall performance.

“They shouldn’t have scored,” Stride said.

It will take a much better game to please Estancia Coach Ken Millard, who is just as much a perfectionist as Stride.

Granted, the Eagles didn’t play their best game of the season Friday. They made three errors, and three pitchers combined for six walks (one of them intentional) and two wild pitches.

But Millard might have been a little too hard on his players when he said, “I’m embarrassed to have you guys (reporters) here when we played like that. I guess something like this had to happen. We have to get a game like this out of our system.”

Remember, the Trojans did pound the ball for 14 hits, including three each by Mark Favorite, Brett Howard and Todd Krueger. Jeff Baker lined doubles to left field and right-center. University is batting better than .400 as a team in league play, and its offense was just as much responsible for Friday’s win.

The Trojans got their bad game out of their system Wednesday, when they committed eight errors in a 9-7 loss to Saddleback. Friday, they made just one error and Stride walked only one.

University moves into a first-place tie with Estancia at 6-2 in league, one game ahead of Newport Harbor, which was upset by Corona del Mar Friday. The Trojans have beaten the Eagles six straight times during the past three years.

It appeared that Stride would have a comparable opponent in Eagle right-hander Matt Hatfield, who struck out three in the first three innings and worked out of two, bases-loaded jams.

But the Trojans finally caught up with Hatfield in the fourth, when they scored four runs after two were out in the inning. Favorite and Howard each had RBI singles, Baker prolonged the rally with a double, and Krueger provided the big blow, a two-run single.

University added two runs in the fifth inning and turned it into a rout with five runs in the sixth. Steve Connor had an RBI double and Tom Staff an RBI single, and two runs scored when Estancia reliever Jim Foley threw Gene Artiano’s sacrifice bunt into right field.

Stride, who is 5-0 with a 0.57 earned run average, struck out the side in the first inning and had seven strikeouts through three. Estancia scored its only run in the fourth when Eric Van Doran, who had reached third on Scott Clements’ hit-and-run single, came in on a wild pitch.

Stride uses two basic pitches--a fast ball and a curve--but he is effective because he can throw each at different speeds and he stays ahead of the batters. It marked Stride’s second win over the Eagles this year. Earlier, he pitched a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts in University’s 6-1 victory.

It’s also Stride’s 12th consecutive victory over two seasons. Stride went 7-0 and was an All-State selection last year when he pitched for Kalaheo High School of Oahu.

In other Sea View League action:

Costa Mesa 4, Saddleback 3--Brent Mayne, the son of Orange Coast College Coach Mike Mayne, drove in Mike Crowe with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning to lead the Mustangs past the Roadrunners at Saddleback.

Crowe, who led off the inning with a single off losing pitcher Alphonso Rossano, was sacrificed to second and went to third on Jeff Price’s infield hit before Mayne knocked him in. David Austin pitched a complete game and allowed four hits to get the win for Costa Mesa.

Rossano, who relieved Steve Delgado in the third inning when Delgado was struck by a line drive, allowed only the two hits in the seventh. Robert Ochoa led the Saddleback offense by going 2 for 3 with two runs scored.

Woodbridge 5, Laguna Beach 3--The Warriors scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Artists at Irvine.

Randy Albright led off the inning with a single and stole second. Two outs later, Matt Seymour broke the 3-3 tie with a triple to right-center and then scored himself on Cam McNee’s single.

On the day, Albright was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and McNee was 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Mark McGrath led the Artists with a hit and two runs scored.

Scott Rogers pitched two innings in relief of Marc Fertig to get the win for Woodbridge, and Dan Haeflinger went the distance and took the loss for Laguna Beach.

Corona del Mar 10, Newport Harbor 9 (eight innings)--Newport Harbor blew leads of 2-0 and 9-7 and lost to host Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings, taking advantage of the wildness of Newport Harbor pitching, got two runs in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings and another in the eighth to win.

Joey James went 2 for 3 with a home run and five RBIs for Newport Harbor to improve his season totals to 5 home runs and 26 RBIs.