Unearned Runs Cost Westlake

Two baseball axioms took their lumps Friday at Moorpark College--and so did Westlake, a 4-2 loser to Santa Monica in the second round of the Area 6 American Legion playoffs.

The first pertinent baseball corollary states that if a pitcher throws a complete-game three-hitter, he gains a victory. The second holds that if a person bats leadoff, he is not a power hitter and will therefore not hit home runs.

Don’t try to sell these notions to Westlake pitcher Donnie Rea, however--he’s already disproved both.

Cruising along with a one-hitter through the first five innings Friday, Rea had Santa Monica batters baffled. Only four players had reached base, and the lone run Santa Monica managed was unearned. With Rea pitching like he was, the only concern for Westlake Coach Chuck Thompson appeared to be scoring another run.

Then up stepped Aaron Marcarrelli with his own theory on how leadoff hitters are supposed to hit. Marcarrelli hit Rea’s second pitch of the sixth inning over the left-field fence for his first home run of the 1987 American Legion season--a span of 17 games--much to Westlake’s surprise.

“I didn’t think it was going to go out,” said Rea, who could not remember ever giving up a home run to a leadoff batter. “It just kept on going. It sounded like it got in on the fists a little bit.

“But the ball just kept going and going and just barely got over.”

Said Thompson: “That really surprised me. In fact I didn’t think the ball was out of here and then all of a sudden I see the ball go over the fence.”

“That was, I think, the turning point of the game right there.”

The home run gave Santa Monica the lead, 2-1, which it never relinquished.

Rea gave up an unearned run that inning and an earned run in the top of the eighth on his way to showing that a pitcher can toss a three-hit complete game and have no problems losing. Five walks didn’t help his cause, but Rea’s chief nemesis was the error.

After Mike Maggiora’s single in the fourth gave Westlake a 1-0 lead, Santa Monica came back to tie in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to an error.

Santa Monica’s Jim Laprie was on second with two out when Jason Evans hit a routine grounder to second. But second baseman Bobby Weer, moving to his left, didn’t get his glove down on the ball and Laprie scored the tying run.

Santa Monica scored its other unearned run in the sixth after consecutive errors by Weer and shortstop Mike Suarez allowed Laprie, who had walked, to score.

“Those errors really killed us,” Thompson said. “It’s hard to win if you field like that.”

Nick Satriano drove in Santa Monica’s final run with a double in the eighth to make the score 4-1. Westlake scored a run in the ninth, but it was too little, too late.

The teams (13-4) have identical records as do the starting pitchers (5-1). Santa Monica’s Kris Schwengel pitched 8 innings before yielding to Randy Bongard with the bases loaded. Bongard got the final out to record the save.

Westlake plays Glendale this afternoon at 1 in the loser’s bracket. Santa Monica advances to Sunday’s final round.

Rea, at least, had the solace of knowing things could have been worse.

“I remember pitching in a game in Little League,” he said, “where I had a one-hitter and lost.”

And that’s another baseball axiom that took a beating.