Lemmerman’s blast wins it

CORONA DEL MAR — Creeping down the third-base line in the bottom of the seventh inning was Corona del Mar High Coach John Emme.

He yelled at Austin Elliott to change his approach at the plate.

“Don’t try to do it all by yourself,” said Emme after watching his No. 3 hitter go down 1-2 in the count with runners on the corners and the Sea Kings trailing Laguna Hills by three runs.

Elliott didn’t listen.

The senior blasted a three-run home run over the center-field fence to tie the game and force extra innings.

To Jake Lemmerman the feat wasn’t unusual for Elliott, saying it was going to be either Elliott or him lifting CdM in the Pacific Coast League game at home.

Lemmerman received his opportunity in the eighth and he came through with two outs. The Duke-bound senior shortstop hit a walk-off two-run home run to right-center field, as the Sea Kings beat the Hawks, 8-6, Friday.

As Lemmerman came around third base, Emme’s eyes were bulging out. Amazing is how Emme said he felt after the come-from-behind victory over the CIF Southern Section Division III fifth-ranked program.

No. 8 CdM (7-2, 2-0 in league) won its seventh consecutive game, and handed Laguna Hills (7-4, 0-2) its second extra-inning loss this week.

The only thing satisfying to Laguna Hills Coach Pete Tereschuk was that this game wasn’t decided in the 12th inning.

“We gave that game away,” said Tereschuk, referring to the Hawks giving up six runs in the 12th and seeing University win, 8-2, Monday. “We got enough [big] hits [one two-run home run, two solo home runs and two doubles] to win the game. We’ve got to play better defense and finish the game.

“Up by three and we need three outs to finish the game.”

Starter Jeff Rauh couldn’t get outs for Laguna Hills with a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh.

The junior tried, but appeared worn out and lost control against the defending league champs. He hit leadoff hitter Vinnie St. John, and then threw back-to-back wild pitches that allowed St. John to scoot to third.

Out came Rauh after six solid innings, and entered Alex St. Pierre, one of the Hawks’ aces.

Three pitches later, Lemmerman found himself on board via walk for the second time.

Elliott stepped up, and St. Pierre jumped ahead of him by fooling him with a couple of changeups. Then Emme advised the team’s RBI king to make sure to just get a hit and not a home run, because as he said, “you never hit home runs when you’re trying.”

Elliott discredited that notion two pitches later.

He hammered the ball for his second home run of year and collected RBIs 16, 17 and 18, making sure this would be another extra-inning affair for Laguna Hills, the new team in the PCL.

“I just smiled,” said Elliott when he heard Emme. “[The Hawks] just came out, they swung the bats, and we came out on top.”

Lemmerman made it possible for CdM to continue its early season roll, most of it without senior third baseman Greg Garte, who Emme said has missed the last three games due to being diagnosed with mononucleosis.

Elliott (2-1) picked up the win in one inning in relief.

St. Pierre appeared to take control, not allowing a hit to the last six CdM batters he faced. Twice he recorded strikeouts, but in the eighth with two outs, St. John pulled St. Pierre’s first offering toward the left-field line for a single.

Next up was Lemmerman, who had reached first base safely in his previous four plate appearances.

This time Lemmerman wanted to reach home and get mobbed by teammates. He accomplished that after taking a low, outside fastball the other way for a game-winning two-run homer.

“I knew if Vinnie got on, I was like, ‘We’re going to win this game,’” said Lemmerman, who hit his third home run of the year and went three for three with three runs scored and was hit by a pitch. “Me or Elliott would either pick him up. It’s either one of us. We both have confidence right now with our hitting.”

Both have been so clutch that Emme’s OK with them trying to do it all by themselves. The duo did Friday.

Pacific Coast League

Corona del Mar 8,

Laguna Hills 6

Score by Innings

LH 0 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 - 6 10 3

CdM 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 2 - 8 11 3

Rauh, St. Pierre (7) and C. Giovinazzo; St. John, Wilson (5), Elliott (8) and DiRocco. W -- Elliott, 2-1. L -- St. Pierre, 2-2. 2B - C. Giovinazzo (LH), Refsnyder (LH), Elliott (CdM), Juarez (CdM). HR -- Lamb (LH), St. Pierre (LH), Kerr (LH), Elliott (CdM), Lemmerman (CdM).