Westlake’s Pitching Prevails, 4-2

Westlake High figured to be one of the best baseball teams in the Marmonte League because of its top two starting pitchers: Todd Singleton and Jay Kenny.

Well, guess what? Neither has thrown a pitch this year, but the Warriors are still one of the top teams in the league, as they proved Friday at Westlake with a 4-2 victory over Royal.

Erik Devine and Tim Carr combined to beat the Highlanders, with Carr pitching the final three scoreless innings to pick up the victory for Westlake (6-2, 1-1 in league play).

Singleton, considered one of the league’s top returning pitchers, is still out with a pinched nerve in his neck. Kenny, a junior who was 6-0 with a 1.34 earned-run average in American Legion play over the summer, recently recovered from a minor shoulder injury just in time to get mononucleosis, which will sideline him for the season.

“I think we’ve got to go more innings to get the job done in their place,” Carr said.

Carr (2-0) was solid in relief, striking out four and allowing one hit, but he needed defensive help to pick up the victory.

Royal (6-3, 1-1) had runners at second and third with two out in the seventh when Kevin Mellinger lifted a drive toward the steep hillside that rises out of right field. Right fielder Matt Riordan ran to the base of the hill and made the catch to end the game.

“I thought I had enough room,” Riordan said. “I was hoping I wouldn’t run out because I know I would have fallen down (if I had to go up the hill).”

Said Carr: “I was nervous. I know that Kevin is a good hitter, but I know Riordan has good speed and he’d catch it.”

Riordan’s catch saved a lead the Warriors had taken on a controversial call in the fifth. With the game tied, 2-2, Westlake scored when Royal right-hander Matt Pitstick was called for a balk with runners at first and third.

The call brought Royal Coach Dan Maye storming out of the dugout because the base umpire first called the runner, Corey Kling, safe at first on a pickoff throw, then called the play a balk after complaints from the Westlake dugout.

“To me, if you are going to call a balk, you call it when it happens, not after the play,” Maye said. “You don’t call it when the dugout starts yelling for a balk.”

The balk moved Kling to second and a bunt moved him to third before Riordan’s sacrifice fly drove him in, making it a 4-2 game.

The only other runs Westlake managed to score against Pitstick (1-2), who allowed six hits and a walk, came on a two-run home run by Todd Kostjuk in the second.

He was not Royal’s problem.

Everything else was.

“This is easy from a coaching standpoint,” Maye said. “If the hitters don’t get it done and the fielders don’t get it done, it’s not like we have to look for answers for what went wrong.”

Although Royal made three errors, one defensive highlight perhaps was lost in Maye’s memory because it happened in the first inning.

Mellinger threw out Kling at the plate on a perfect one-hop throw from center field.

Kling, who had two singles, was the only player for either team with more than one hit.