Prep Baseball : Marina Cashes In on Fountain Valley’s Pitching and Fielding, Wins, 7-5

Marina High School capitalized on poor pitching and a faulty defense for a 7-5 Sunset League victory over Fountain Valley Saturday at Marina.

“We just don’t have the pitching staff this year,” Baron Coach Kent Neil said. “It has been inconsistent all year, and that has been our big problem.”

Fountain Valley starter Chris Cantor (3-2) had trouble from the outset. Cantor, a senior right-hander, threw two wild pitches, walked five and gave up five runs in 1 innings.

Fountain Valley out-hit Marina, 9-5, but left 8 runners on base. The Barons turned three double plays but also committed three fielding errors.

In the first inning, Marina (8-7-1 overall, 3-2-1 in league play), which trailed, 1-0, scored two runs after Cantor walked the first three batters he faced.

Steve Jio scored the first Viking run on a wild pitch. Eric Crocker knocked in Chris Craig with a groundout for a 2-1 lead.

In the second, Cantor walked two of the first three batters he faced. Jio ended Cantor’s day with a bloop single over first base that scored Chris Boyd. Fountain Valley then brought in reliever Jeff Hale.

Hale walked Craig to load the bases, and shortstop Robbie Carabba followed with a double off the right-field fence that scored Robin Lindsey, who had earlier walked, and Jio. Craig came around to score on the play when a relay throw to home plate by Fountain Valley second baseman Tony Spaan was off target. Still with one out, Crocker singled home Carabba for the fifth run of the inning and a commanding 7-1 lead.

Fountain Valley (7-8, 2-3) got three runs back in the third on a three-run home run by Mark Dodd off Viking starter Marcus Nelson, cutting the lead to 7-4.

Nelson (3-3-1) pitched five innings and gave up nine hits and five runs with four strikeouts. He was relieved in the sixth by sophomore Boyd, who didn’t allow a hit in the final two innings to pick up his second save.

“You can’t walk people because it ends up hurting you,” Viking Coach Paul Renfrow said. “I like the way we took advantage of the other team’s mistakes, and how our pitching held together today.”

In another Sunset League game:

Westminster 10, Ocean View 9 (8 innings)--Catcher Dax Hammers’ bases-loaded single with two out in the eighth drove in Ron Hackett to give host Westminster the victory.

Westminster (9-7 overall, 2-3 in league play) rallied from a 9-6 deficit with a three-run fifth inning, highlighted by Brian Mantel’s two-out run-scoring single that tied the score at 9-9.

Ocean View (2-2-1 in league play) had taken the lead with a five-run fourth inning. The big hit for Ocean View was a bases-loaded double by Mike Burns that drove in three runs.

For Westminster, Joe Maisano went 3 for 4 and scored 2 runs and Ryan Klesko had a 3-run homer in the first. Klesko was intentionally walked twice after the homer. Dave Rodriguez added two hits and two runs scored for the Lions.

In the Redondo Beach tournament:

Edison 8, Culver City 4--Rob Simonson (1-2) struck out seven and allowed two hits in five innings to lead Edison (7-6-1) at Culver City (8-4) in a second-round game.