Montclair Prep Blows Big Lead, Settles for Tie

After playing at St. Bernard High on Wednesday, Montclair Prep understands what it might be like to play in cozy Wrigley Field--where no lead is safe.

“In this park,” Montclair Prep Coach Walt Steele said, “it’s wild.”

Wrigley Field is lighted, however, something that cannot be said for the field at St. Bernard. The game was called because of darkness with the score tied, 7-7, in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Montclair Prep (3-1-1) blew a 7-0 lead built on four home runs, and St. Bernard (5-1-1) scored four runs--three unearned--in the seventh.

Brad Fullmer hit two of the Mounties’ home runs and right-hander Russell Ortiz was breezing along with a two-hitter until the sixth. Ian Jackson’s two-run home run capped a St. Bernard rally that cut the lead to 7-3.

The Vikings scored four runs on two hits in the seventh with the help of four errors. The first two batters hit safely and Osman Kahn relieved Ortiz. The next two batters reached on errors. An errant pickoff attempt and a squeeze bunt later, the score was tied.

This was a rematch of Friday’s Westside tournament game in which St. Bernard ended Montclair Prep’s 21-game winning streak by defeating the Mounties, 9-4. The two-time defending Southern Section 1-A Division champion Mounties lost eight starters to graduation, so games like Wednesday’s might be more common than in the recent past. “It’s going to be that kind of season, I can feel it,” Steele said.

Chances are the Mounties won’t be playing in too many parks where the fences are only 275 feet down the foul lines.

Montclair Prep had only one single before Fullmer led off the fourth inning with his first home run of the season. Joe Eskenazi led off the six-run fifth with a single and Justin Paperny hit his first home run. After a walk, a groundout, a single and a pickoff, Fullmer hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0. The next batter walked and Chris Portugal hit his second home run of the season to make it 7-0.