PREP ROUNDUP : Trabuco Hills Beats Monarchs in Opener

There’s nothing he can do about it now, but if Bob Ickes could change the Mater Dei baseball schedule, he would eliminate Monday games.

His frustration continued as host Trabuco Hills defeated the Monarchs, 4-1, in the South Coast League opener for both teams Monday.

“We have not been a good Monday team,” Ickes said. “Two to three times now we’ve come to a Monday game and didn’t bring any bats.”

Mater Dei (4-2) managed only eight singles against Mustang right-hander Ryan Kelley (1-1) and could only score in the third on an RBI single from Scott Daeley. Only once did the Monarchs open an inning with a base hit--Mike Hessman’s liner to center in the fourth--and Mike Kolbach promptly grounded into a double play.

Trabuco Hills (2-2-1) got seven hits off Mater Dei starter Jeff Parker (0-1), and did its biggest damage in the fifth, scoring three times on consecutive doubles by Desha Runnels and Jake Anderson, a run-scoring single from Brian Costello and a mishandled grounder by Monarch second baseman John Flynn, which enabled Costello to score his second run of the day.

What especially pleased Mustang Coach Randy Brouwer was the rally came an inning after Parker stopped Trabuco Hills with the bases loaded by striking out Tom Kilby for the third out.

“This was a big lift for us,” said Brouwer, noting Trabuco Hills’ football, basketball and baseball teams all began league play against Mater Dei. “We didn’t start out well the first four games but we put things together today--hitting, pitching and defense.

“I thought this was the best performance I’d seen by Ryan here in three years, and you’re talking about a guy who was the (Pacific Coast League) player of the year last season. But today he changed speeds well, didn’t just show the same pitch all the time, which we had talked about. And against good hitting teams, changing speeds is the best way to get them out.”

Or in Mater Dei’s case, schedule a Monday game.

“I don’t know what it is but we just seem to come back Monday lethargic after the weekend,” Ickes said.

In other South Coast League games:

Dana Hills 2, Mission Viejo 0--Chris Toomey hit a two-run home run with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning for Dana Hills (4-3, 1-0). The home run scored Joe Yagher, who had singled to lead off the inning. Yagher’s single broke-up Mission Viejo’s Rich Rawson’s no-hitter. Toomey (3-0) pitched an eight-hitter for Dana Hills (4-3, 1-0).

San Clemente 4, Capistrano Valley 2 (8)--Sam Adair singled to drive in Mike Castaneda in the top of the eighth inning for San Clemente (5-2, 1-0). Adair later scored on an error. Robert Frith (2-0) pitched a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts.