Corona edges King in 12 innings to maintain lead in Big VIII League baseball standings

SAN BERNARDINO > The Big VIII League’s championship race has not been void of dramatic games, and the Corona and King baseball teams decided to take things to another level Saturday.

The teams waged a memorable battle in the showcase game of the County Clash series at San Manuel Stadium. It took a shade under four hours before a team emerged as the victor Saturday.

DJ Wolfe scored the winning run on an error with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning as Corona edged King 9-8 to maintain its lead in the league standings with two games left to be played.

Corona has a one-game advantage over Santiago, and the teams play a home-and-home series next week to decide a champion.

Wolfe drew a walk with one out in the 12th inning and advanced to second on a single by Garrett Beltran. After a failed bunt led to the second out of the inning, Jayden Kiernan stepped up to bat. Kiernan bounced a ball to the left side of the infield, where it was gloved by King shortstop Mario Madrigal. The throw by Madrigal sailed high and off Jonathan Ho’s glove, allowing Wolfe to score.

Wolfe pitched a scoreless top of the 12th inning to earn the win.

Corona squandered a golden opportunity to win the game after loading the bases with no outs in the ninth inning. Dylan Baker was summoned from the bullpen and delivered a Houdini act by getting a groundout, a pop out and a fly out to quell the threat.

King (13-14, 7-6 in league) had runners on first and second with nobody out in the 11th, but Hunter Collins escaped the jam after getting two shallow fly balls and a groundout to end the inning.

Corona (20-7, 9-4) looked like it might cruise to victory after scoring four runs in the opening frame. The Panthers loaded the bases with one out, and King pitcher Brandon Ramey hit a batter and walked two more. Corona added another run on an RBI groundout by Beltran.

King trailed 5-0 after two innings but exploded for five runs during the third inning. Nick Pena’s two-out, two-run double helped the Wolves get within 5-4, and Esteban Nakashima singled home the tying run. King grabbed the lead the following inning on an RBI single by Ho.

Corona bounced back in the fifth inning. Beltran singled home the tying run, and Michael Flores gave the Panthers a 7-6 lead when his sacrifice fly scored Beltran.

King immediately answered with a pair of runs in the sixth, as Ho and Bradley Chesterton had back-to-back RBI singles.

Beltran got Corona’s seventh inning started with a single, and he scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Kiernan.

Santiago 3, Roosevelt 2 >> Jacob Shanks delivered a two-run triple with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to lift the Sharks to victory.

Alex Benter threw four scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win. Benter didn’t allow a hit, only walked one batter and struck out six.

Cole Jordan got Santiago’s rally started with a leadoff double down the left-field line. Shanks later hit a sinking line drive to left field and Aaron DeLaTorre came up short on a diving attempt. The ball rolled to the warning track, allowing Jordan and Noah Brockway to score.

Roosevelt took the lead in the top of the first on a two-run single by Adrian Banales. Santiago got one run back in the second inning, as Jordan led off with a double and scored on a double by Brockway.

Centennial 3, Norco 1 >> Taylor Ouellette surrendered four hits and struck out seven over six innings to lead the Huskies to the win.

Bobby Oros helped give Centennial the lead in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly. Ouellette scored later in the inning on a wild pitch.

Norco’s run came in the fifth on an RBI single by Stewart Slessor.

Centennial added an insurance run in the sixth, as Randy Collado led off with a double and scored on a single by Zachary Leonti.

Norco stranded 11 runners, including two in the seventh inning.

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