Ocean View wins again, blanks New Mexico, 3-0

Mike Sciacca, Independent

Making a statement early in the tournament and proving that it

should be considered one of the teams to beat in the Western Regional,

Ocean View followed up Wednesday’s 13-1 rout of Laramie with a 3-0

blanking of East Dale of New Mexico on Thursday, in what Manager Yun

Conger termed a “hard-fought game.”

The winner’s bracket contest was scoreless entering the bottom of the

fifth inning. It was there that Ocean View finally broke through, with

Chris Palmer, the game’s winning pitcher, breaking the ice with a leadoff

double. Tomas Yoo then delivered the game-winning RBI, his double scoring

pinch runner Eric Jaso. Jeff Mollica matched Yoo with a run-scoring

double, and Jeff Van Doornum’s RBI single gave Ocean View its 3-0 lead.

Palmer pitched a tough five innings and went on to strikeout 10 while

walking two to go along with two hits. Hank Conger was brought in at the

start of the the sixth inning and, after giving up a questionable infield

single, went on to strike out the next three batters to end the game.

“Chris (Palmer) gave a wonderful performance,” Yun Conger said. “A

10-strikeout game in this type of tournament is impressive, really.”

Ocean View’ win Thursday put it in the company of Arizona, Washington,

and Montana, as the tournament’s only unbeaten teams, and Yun Conger said

that Thursday’s win over New Mexico was a big one.

Just one night earlier, New Mexico had upended Northern California,

3-2.

“We really wanted that win,” he said. “New Mexico was a tough team,

and that was a big hurdle to clear. At this point, I really feel that we

can win this thing.”