With the rain finally giving way to clear skies, the Malibu High Sharks began their 2006 varsity baseball season with a tough loss to Santa Monica by a score of 3-1.
Senior righthander Wesley Semkin held Santa Monica to two singles through the first four innings of a pitchers' duel with SaMo's Joe McGrew, but a combination of three hits and two Malibu errors in the top of the fifth gave the Vikings all of the runs they needed.
The Sharks answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth and threatened in the sixth and seventh innings, but failed to push any additional runs across.
Semkin was dominating in the early going. SaMo second baseman Kevin Gonzalez grounded to Mike Gwyn at third to start the game. Semkin then struck out two of the Vikings' leading hitters last year, Dylan Early and Mike Schwartz, to finish the first with a flourish.
Milan de Pillars had a two-out single in the second inning but was stranded when Alex West grounded to third.
A single by Garet Ramos and a walk to Gonzalez put Semkin in a one-out jam in the top of the third. He worked out of it with ease, though, striking out Early for the second time and getting Schwartz on a fly to Jace Dispenza in center.
After a one-two-three fourth inning, SaMo started the fifth with a leadoff single to center by West. Ramos bunted West to second. Shortstop David Castellanos followed with a single to center. A strong throw by Dispenza held West at third. With Castellanos stealing second, the throw by catcher Stephen Williams bounced in front of second. Second baseman Greg Kernodle blocked the ball and West broke for the plate. Kernodle's throw was wild, allowing West to score and Castellanos to move to third. Gonzalez followed with an RBI double down the left field line. He advanced to third when Early grounded to Jacob Perrin at short and scored when Perrin's throw on Mike Schwartz's ground ball glanced off Colbie Bell's glove at first base on what would have been the final out of the inning. In all, Santa Monica scored three runs in the inning, two of them unearned.
Offensively, the Sharks had runners on base in every inning, but two SaMo double plays kept Malibu from scoring until the bottom of the fifth.
Brooks Fitch started the second inning with a drive in the left-center gap but was thrown out at second on a strong throw by leftfielder Milan de Pillars. Perrin led off the third inning with a single to right and was bunted over to second by Sean Conrad. He advanced to third when Dispenza was thrown out trying to bunt for a base hit, but Kernodle followed with a ground out that ended the inning.
A missed opportunity was the story of the fourth inning, too. Bell led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Gwyn then walked to set the table for Fitch. On a 3-2 pitch, Fitch hit a line drive right at thirdbaseman Garet Ramos. Ramos doubled Bell off second on the play to kill the Malibu rally.
In the fifth, Semkin led off with a single through the right side. Sloan Campi, running for Semkin, moved to second on a wild pitch. Perrin then advanced Campi to third on a groundout to second. Campi scored the Sharks' only run of the game when Sean Conrad, playing his first varsity game, grounded out to second.
The Sharks mounted a comeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh after Gwyn had posted two shutout innings in relief of Semkin. Leading off the inning, Semkin drew a walk from Justin Negrete. Semkin was thrown out stealing second when Perrin struck out looking on a 3-2 pitch. With two outs and nobody on, Conrad singled past the first baseman and advanced to second when the right fielder bobbled the ball. Ross Ellis, batting for Dispenza, drew a walk, but the game ended on Kernodle's grounder to third.
The Sharks travel to L.A. Baptist on Monday in a makeup of a game rained out yesterday.
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