Mater Dei Barely Scrambles Free After Cougars Go Wild

How do you describe a game where the teams combine for 13 wild pitches, 16 walks, four errors, 23 hits and 21 runs?

“There are no words to describe it,” Capistrano Valley Coach Bob Zamora said. Added Mater Dei Coach Bob Ickes: “Both teams probably set baseball back 15 years today.”

But Mater Dei will still take its 11-10 victory over host Capistrano Valley because, if nothing else, it puts some distance between the Monarchs (12-3, 5-0) and the team many expected to block Mater Dei’s path to a sixth consecutive South Coast League championship.

In a game that should have been played on Halloween--it was that monstrous--Mater Dei’s Mike Kolbach struck the determining blow, a two-run homer off Cougar reliever Chad Veltz in the top of the seventh.

It was the final break for Mater Dei on a day the Monarchs had more than their share. Kolbach’s blast came when winds blowing in from left field had died down. A similar hit by Veltz in the fifth with the bases loaded was reduced to a sacrifice fly by the stiff breeze.

“I was a bit lucky, because they were pitching me outside and I just went with the pitch,” the left-handed hitting Kolbach said.

But the Cougars (6-8-1, 2-2-1) have to know in their hearts they should have never let the game be close.

They peppered three Mater Dei pitchers for 14 hits, including four by Ryan Brown, who drove in five runs. They had leads of 2-0, 6-5, and 10-8. And they also had their best pitcher, Rik Currier on the mound.

But Currier was wilder than Texas locoweed. In five innings the senior right-hander had nine wild pitches (Mater Dei scored on five of them) and issued eight walks, along with giving up six hits, which translated into eight runs. He struck out only three.

Zamora said he has seen Currier go through this before.

“Rik can be difficult to catch because his ball moves so much,” Zamora said. “The past two years he’s had games early in the season where he struggles, then suddenly he gets everything ironed out.”

Mater Dei starter Nick Lavato was not sharp either, lasting only 3 1/3 innings and giving up eight hits and six runs.

But the Monarchs had an easier time dealing with Friday’s 3-hour 10-minute mess-terpiece than the Cougars did, thanks to Kolbach’s home run.

“This is kind of a strange team,” Ickes said. “They always look like they’re out of the game, and they find a way to get back into it.”

Capistrano Valley, on the other had, must find a way to generate some momentum before the season gets away. And that won’t be easy.

“It seems like we’ve been regrouping since the third game,” Zamora said.

In other South Coast League games:

San Clemente 3, Dana Hills 0--James Anderson pitched a four-hitter, walking one and striking out one, and also hit a home run in the sixth for the host Tritons (7-8, 2-3). Kris Evans hit a two-run home run in the third for San Clemente.

Trabuco Hills 7, Mission Viejo 4--Graham Robby doubled in the winning run in a three-run seventh inning, two of which were unearned, for Trabuco Hills (7-7, 2-3).

Danny Garcia tied the score, 4-4, with a two-run home run, his second, in the sixth for Trabuco Hills.

Zach Gause was three for three with two doubles and a run batted in for Trabuco Hills.