Orange County High School All-Star Baseball Game : North Recovers From a Wild First Inning for a 9-7 Victory

For nearly an hour in the first inning Tuesday night, the 21st Orange County All-Star baseball game looked like anything but a matchup among the best prep players from one of the nation’s hotbeds for talent.

A near-capacity crowd of 1,000 in Anaheim’s Glover Stadium was treated to the sight of a pitcher struggling to find the plate at the outset of a game that lasted more than 3 1/2 hours.

But when it was finally over, the North had rallied from a seven-run deficit with some timely hitting to gain a 9-7 victory. The win gave the North an 11-10 advantage in the series.

The South scored seven runs in the first inning, benefiting from 10 walks and 2 wild pitches. John Cummings of Canyon, the North’s starting pitcher, walked seven of the first eight batters he faced before he was relieved by Rob Utz of La Habra.

First baseman Joe Ciccarella of Mater Dei had the only hit for the South in the inning as 11 batters came to the plate. The South tripled its hit production in the second inning but failed to score a run and was shut out for the next eight innings.

The North cut the deficit to 7-4 with a display of power in the second. Mike Edwards of Valencia, Marty Neff of Magnolia and Brian Criss of Servite all doubled in the inning.

Criss, co-most valuable player of the Angelus League with Mater Dei’s Jim Austin, added a home run in the fourth inning as the North edged closer, 7-5. Teammate Mike Kelly of Los Alamitos hit another home run in the fifth to cut the deficit to 7-6. The North took control in the sixth with three runs.

The South managed only three hits from the third through the sixth innings as North pitchers Ward Lookabaugh of Orange Lutheran, Mark Holiday of Western and Matt Lipscomb of La Habra restored order.

Lipscomb, coming off an impressive performance in the three-game state series last weekend, looked very sharp. The right-hander struck out four of the seven batters he faced in two innings to gain the win.

Mike Smedes of Laguna Hills, who will attend USC in the fall, was the losing pitcher. Smedes allowed three runs in the sixth, including a run-scoring single by Mike Robertson of Servite, who will join Smedes at USC.

Lipscomb was named the game’s most valuable player. He allowed only one hit and a walk in 1 innings of work. Criss was given the most hustling player award. He had a double, home run and two RBIs.