NHBA Bronco: Newport fares well at Irvine Tournament

IRVINE - In the Irvine Memorial Day Tournament, a team from Newport

Harbor Baseball Association’s Bronco Division (ages 11-12) went 3-2 in

the five-game stretch, including two come-from-behind victories.

In the opener against Irvine, Newport rallied with two outs in the

bottom of the sixth inning to score two runs and won, 6-5. A triple by

Erik Bonn, followed by hits from Jonathan Herdman and R.J. D’Cruz sparked

the rally. Herdman’s run off a wild pitch broke the 5-5 tie.

Great pitching was turned in by Brock Schuler, Andrew Skjonsby, Troy

Seeber and D’Cruz, while Peter Hapke played solid defense at second base

for Newport.

Against Whittier, Newport trailed, 7-2, in the final inning before

rallying to win, 8-7. Garrett Gordon drove in Kyle Rohan with the

game-winning run, while Bonn played great defense behind the plate.

Other key contributors throughout the weekend for Newport were Dan

Winkle and Justin Jones.

In other Bronco Division action:

Red Sox 7, Cubs 5 - In a playoff stunner, the last-place Red Sox upset

the first-place Cubs in the first round of the playoffs.

Brett Houten went 3 for 4 and pitched three solid innings with six

strikeouts for the Red Sox. Spencer Smith went 3 for 4 with three RBIs

and Brock Schuler pitched three shutout innings.

Other Red Sox players to deliver key hits were Matt Helfrich and

Michael Garcia, while Tommy Olson and Vince Newsome played great on

defense.

The Cubs had key hits from Riley Thornton, Zippy Levy, Drew Harris and

Peter Hapke.