Sea View League : Corona del Mar in Playoffs as Hess Pitches Shutout

Robert Hess, Corona del Mar High School pitcher, doesn’t try to overpower batters with his fastball or out-finesse them with an assortment of breaking balls and off-speed pitches. The senior right-hander throws only two basic pitches--a fastball and curve--and both approach hitters with the same velocity.

But those same pitches kept producing the same results in Thursday’s Sea View League game against Newport Harbor--scoreless innings.

Before you knew it, seven had gone by, and Hess finished with a 5-0 shutout of the Sailors at Newport Harbor High. He pitched a four-hitter and struck out four, as the third-place Sea Kings clinched their first Southern Section playoff berth since 1982.

Corona del Mar finished the regular season with a 7-8 league record, 10-10 overall, while Newport Harbor finished at 3-11-1, 9-14-1.

“When he’s on the mound, don’t expect 10 or 12 strikeouts,” Corona del Mar Coach Jerry Jelnick said of Hess, who has won four straight league decisions and is 6-3 this season.

“He’s always around the plate, and he’s a tough competitor. The infielders love to play behind him.”

Hess forced the Sailors into 10 ground-ball outs and he didn’t walk a batter. Twice, Newport Harbor had a runner on third with two outs--in the second and fourth innings--but Hess worked out of each jam by inducing ground-ball outs.

The Sea Kings were frustrated by Newport Harbor starter Gery Lindberg for four innings, but they finally got to the left-hander in the fifth, when they scored all of their runs.

Chad Thompson’s one-out single and walks to Gary Sussman and Mitch Melbon loaded the bases, and Andy MacMillan then lifted a fly ball to deep right-center field. Center fielder Ken Shelton called right fielder Jeff Glneck off on the play, but the wind pushed the ball toward right field and out of Shelton’s reach.

It dropped between the two for a single that scored Thompson and left the bases loaded again. Kevin Maas’ fielder’s choice scored the second run and the third scored on an error. Following relief pitcher Pat DeCrona’s walk to Kurt Ehmann, Craig Nixon knocked a two-run single into center field to make it 5-0.

Saddleback 5, Estancia 4--The league-champion Roadrunners (12-3, 18-7) scored a run in the top of the seventh to defeat the Eagles (5-10, 8-17) at Estancia. Russell Mascari, who had three hits, doubled in the seventh, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored the winning run on Paul O’Hearn’s sacrifice fly to left field. Jeff Blanco added two hits and two RBIs for Saddleback.

Tustin 12, University 5--Monte Roberts drove in two runs and Darren Puckett doubled in two more to pace the Tillers to a five-run first inning at University. Chris Floth won his tenth game in 12 starts for Tustin (9-6) in the Sea View League.