Edison Ends 10-Game Losing Streak Against Ocean View

Edison High School snapped a 10-game losing streak to Ocean View spanning three seasons with a 9-6 victory over the Seahawks Tuesday in Sunset League baseball in Huntington Beach.

The Chargers (6-5-1 overall, 3-1 in league play) scored all of their runs in the first two innings and moved into first place in the six-team league. Ocean View pitchers allowed only two hits after the second inning, but the Seahawks failed to overcome the big deficit.

“It was one of those games where you get ahead, 9-1, and never feel comfortable,” said Paul Harrell, Edison’s first-year coach. “I wasn’t even aware of the losing streak until one of my players mentioned it before the game.”

Mark Whitcher, Edison third baseman, gave the Chargers a 3-0 lead when he belted a three-run homer over the right-center-field fence in the first inning. Whitcher had a single, double and homer, scored two runs and drove in three more.

Ocean View (8-5-1, 2-1-1) was guilty of three passed balls, two hit batsmen, a wild pitch and three walks in the opening two innings. Frank Vidales, Edison’s designated hitter, provided the big blow in the second inning with a three-run double for an eight-run lead.

“If we play the way we did today the rest of the season, we won’t win another game,” Ocean View Coach Bill Gibbons said. “We prolonged innings with silly mistakes, and you can’t do that against a good team like Edison.

“No one on our pitching staff is going to throw a shutout, so our defense is going to have to be our stabilizing force.”

The Seahawks were playing without pitcher Dan Naulty, shortstop Jeff Bailey and outfielder Brett Reed, who have been dismissed from the team for the remainder of the season after an incident in San Luis Obispo last week. Naulty and Bailey were key players on the team, and Reed was a junior reserve.

Gibbons would not elaborate on the suspensions, but he conceded that his team will struggle without the players in a very competitive league.

“It may take a couple of games before we realize we’re a new team without those guys,” he said. “They let the team down, but they broke the rules and I had to dismiss them.”

Ocean View, one of the top teams in the county over the past three seasons, looked good at the plate, getting eight hits off Edison starter Chris Barilla (1-0), but the Seahawks failed to get a clutch hit in the final four innings when they threatened.

Third baseman Gary Christopherson led the Seahawks with a home run and a double.