Little League baseball: Whalen’s double keys Newport win

Barry Faulkner

IRVINE - For the better part of five innings, San Clemente Little

League pitcher Tim Troyer appeared to have mastered the principles of jet

propulsion in the winner’s bracket semifinal of the District 55 Majors

Division All-Star Tournament Wednesday night at Hicks Canyon Park.

But then came what Newport Beach National Manager Bob Rovzar later

called “a rocket ship” to right field, interrupting San Clemente’s orbit

into Saturday’s winner’s bracket final.

Rovzar’s metaphoric reference described the game-winning,

opposite-field double off the bat of third baseman Connor Whalen with two

out and two on in the fifth. Whalen, Newport’s leadoff man who had

whiffed meekly in his two previous at-bats, lined an 0-2 curveball over

the first baseman’s head all the way to the fence, allowing Thomas

Dialynas and pinch-runner Scott Ely to score the tying and go-ahead runs,

respectively, in what turned out to be a 2-1 Newport Beach victory.

The clutch connection ruined Troyer’s mound gem, while rewarding

Newport pitcher Chris Rosen, who battled control problems and what his

manager termed less than his best stuff, all night, en route to a

complete-game two-hitter.

“(Troyer) was on a roll,” Rovzar said of the smooth-throwing

right-hander, who mixed an above-average fastball with a devastating

curve to consistently confound Newport hitters until the fateful fifth.

“But I had confidence in our guys.”

After surrendering first-inning singles to Andy Rovzar (a bouncer up

the middle) and Scott Colton (a swinging bunt down the third-base line

after a fielder’s choice produced the second out), Troyer retired 12

straight, including his fifth and sixth strikeouts to start the fifth.

After a 17-pitch first, Troyer used just 28 pitches, 22 for strikes, the

next three innings to cruise into the fifth. Of the 67 pitches he threw,

only 12 were balls and he rung up first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 20

hitters he faced.

But Dialynas lined a two-out single to center and pinch-hitter Aaron

Northcraft rapped a bounding ball over a leaping Troyer and just beyond

the reach of the second baseman, ranging to his right in an attempt to

keep the ball from reaching center field. Newport caught a break on

Northcraft’s single, when Dialynas’ aggressive turn around second base

drew a throw to third from the center fielder. The ball skipped past the

third baseman on a hop and both Dialynas and Northcraft moved up, setting

the stage for Whalen.

Whalen fouled an 0-2 pitch off to stay alive, before drilling the

game-winner, which continued his strong performance in the tournament.

“He didn’t look very good his first two at-bats tonight, but he has

been a stud for us,” Bob Rovzar said. “He hit a leadoff homer in our

first playoff game.”

Bob Rovzar said Whalen’s opposite-field poke was not out of character

for his hitters.

“We work on (going the other way) all the time,” Rovzar said.

“(Troyer) had such a great bender, we were telling our kids to be patient

with the curve and Connor waited on it.”

Rosen, a left-hander who threw a shutout in the tournament-opening 3-0

victory, struck out five and allowed just one man past first base. The

run he allowed was earned, but it might have been negated had his defense

not made its only miscue on the play.

With San Clemente runners on the corners with two outs in the fourth,

San Clemente tried a double steal. Newport catcher Garrett Amoroso, who

sparkled defensively all game, threw to the shortstop, who had charged in

to cut the throw off on the infield grass, which appeared to be prime

position to nail the runner from third trying to score. But his throw

home sailed wide of Amoroso, giving the designated visitors a 1-0 lead.

Whalen, second baseman Shane Boras, Rosen and first baseman Colton

joined Amoroso as defensive standouts for the winners, who face Lake

Forest Saturday at 6 p.m at the same site. Should Newport win Saturday,

it could then clinch the district crown with a win either Wednesday or

Thursday, also at Hicks Canyon Park.

Rovzar said a Newport Beach Little League team advanced to the

district winner’s bracket final in 2000, but lost twice. The league split

into National and American entries last year, however, making this year’s

run all the more remarkable.

“We focus on doing our job, make the plays in the field and we take

every at-bat seriously,” Rovzar said. “We just seem to have a great mix

of kids.”