High School Baseball : Castle Park Takes 1-Game Streak to Las Vegas

After Castle Park High School defeated University City, 6-1, Tuesday in the last of its three Lions tournament baseball games, Coach Bob Korzep had a quick team meeting and hurried his players onto the bus for the trip back to Castle Park.

The return trip was just the first for the Trojans, who were back on the bus late Tuesday afternoon, headed for Las Vegas to play in a tournament there, beginning with a doubleheader today.

Korzep could have scheduled himself into a problem had his 7-2-1 team not lost a 1-0 decision to El Capitan Monday, a game Korzep said the Trojans should have won. With that defeat, Castle Park, which finished 2-1 in the tournament, was eliminated from the championship round, regardless of Tuesday’s outcome.

Korzep said he mailed his registration money for the Las Vegas tournament without realizing that it might conflict with the Lions tournament. He said he would have split up his team, had the conflict occurred.

All that aside, Tuesday’s game at El Capitan gave Korzep an opportunity to look at two junior pitchers who won’t play much this season, and to work on his team’s hitting.

The Titans had 11 hits, including a three-run home run by Chris Sykes in the third inning that broke open a scoreless game.

“It seems like feast or famine for him,” Korzep said of Sykes, who has two home runs this season but has struck out a lot. “We need a guy to give us a real solid shot like that.”

Cesar Gutierrez was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored for Castle Park, and Juan Soriano added a two-out single in the fifth to drive in the game’s final two runs.

But Sykes also struck out twice and stranded three runners, Soriano fanned twice and stranded two and Gutierrez struck out weakly with two on in the sixth against University City reliever Brad Ledwith, who had five strikeouts in 2 innings.

“We’re still not swinging the bat like we are capable,” Korzep said. “They have to learn what to do when they go up to the dish.”

Korzep has three established starting pitchers he’ll use when Metro Conference play starts after vacation, so he probably won’t need to use Tuesday’s winner, Joe Carrillo, who scattered six hits and struck out four in 4 innings, or his replacement, Jeff Oliveri, once the tournaments are over.

“This was an opportunity to get him (Carrillo) some innings,” Korzep said. “Somewhere down the line, he’s going to really help us out.”