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Sports

South Rolls to 15-5 Victory in All-Star Baseball Game

Capistrano Valley's David Longville picks up the victory, while Edison's Eric Snyder is named MVP of the 44th annual O.C. All-Star High School Seniors Baseball Game.

The amount of athletic talent assembled on Dee Fee Field at Glover Stadium on Wednesday evening continued to confirm the Southland's national reputation. Southern California is a hotbed for baseball, and Orange County is at the epicenter. 

More than 40 of the region's elite players gathered at the venerable Anaheim ballpark for the 44th annual Orange County All-Star High School Seniors Baseball Game. Glover Stadium, which once housed Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics club in the spring of 1940, quickly filled with family and friends of players participating in their final contest at the high school level.

Led by Edison outfielder Eric Snyder, the South squad swung its way to a 15-5 victory over seniors of the North. Snyder, who hit two of the game's four home runs, earned Most Valuable Player honors in the nine-inning exhibition game.

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"When you're surrounded by great players, you play great," said Snyder, who finished his CIF Southern Section career ranked seventh all-time in base hits.

There was no shortage of talent in either dugout, despite the fact that each of the area's top MLB draft selection -- JSerra catcher Austin Hedges and Edison pitcher Henry Owens -- sat out the game. Nearly every athlete is bound for a collegiate career, many of whom will eventually pursue potential opportunities at the professional level.

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"Even if it's for one game, just to be able to say you coached these kids.... You know some of them are going to have special careers," said Huntington Beach coach Benji Medure, who led the South. "I'm privileged to be the head coach of these guys tonight."

Cypress pitcher Zach Ortiz (North) and El Toro right-hander Garrett Mundell (South) started on the mound for their respective teams. Each tossed two shutout innings, but Mundell’s memorable moment came later in the contest, when he had the opportunity to pinch-hit thanks to the free-flow substitution rules that were in effect.

“It was my first at-bat in a game since freshman year so that was pretty awesome,” Mundell said with a smile shortly after striking out.

The Fresno State signee gave way to Dana Hills’ Eric Hsieh. The Yale-bound lefty allowed the game’s first score when Foothill shortstop David Edwards drove in a run with a groundout to give the North a 1-0 advantage.

Mission Viejo outfielder Austin Saenz, fresh off Thursday’s Division 2 championship win at Dodgers Stadium, stroked an RBI double to tie the score in the bottom of the third. Capistrano Valley pitcher David Longville struck out the side in the fourth inning to set the stage for the South’s offensive onslaught. Both Blake Hitchcock of Ocean View and Christian Knauer of San Clemente picked up RBIs in the team’s four-run fourth inning, as the game began to pick up steam.

"We were loose during the first few innings and then everyone started to get involved," Medure said. "These guys are competitive so of course they wanted to win. We wanted to have fun, but we also wanted to win. That's been our mantra since we all got together."

Medure’s lineup left nothing to chance, as it continued to adjust and dominate against the North’s talented pitching staff. Hitchcock blasted a seventh-inning two-run home run over the left-field fence to score Tesoro slugger Braden Peters and give the South a 12-2 lead.

The outfielder finished the night going three-for-three with three runs to secure some postgame hardware. Hitchcock was named the game’s Hustle Award recipient, joining eventual major league players Aaron Boone, Brent Boone, Ben Francisco and Lenny Dykstra on the list of winners of the award.

Not to be outdone, Snyder launched home runs in each of the next two innings. First came the future UCLA Bruin’s sixth-inning mammoth moon shot deep over the 400-foot center field wall and into the Anaheim night. His second, a three-run blast to left field in the eighth inning, gave the South a 15-4 advantage and put the finishing touches on the offensive masterpiece.

A trio of Sea View League pitching aces sealed the deal in the final few innings. Trabuco Hills’ Jake Chutney worked in the seventh before Aliso Niguel’s Brian Bass took his turn in the eighth inning. San Juan Hills’ Christian Stubbs closed out the game in the ninth after surrendering a lead-off home run to Foothill’s Colin Welmon at the top of the inning.

Months from now, these high school graduates will embark on the next phase of their lives and baseball careers. Their roots will always bring them home to Orange County, where the sport simply seems to be a notch above the rest.

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