King baseball team rallies past Corona, forces tie atop Big VIII League standings

RIVERSIDE — King coach Steve Madril has been coaching baseball in the Big VIII League long enough to understand the race for the league championship is more of a marathon than a sprint.

“Going back to my days at North, I think only one team has run the table,” Madril said.

The feat has been pulled off twice, in 2009 and 2014 by Norco. But the league has been a roller coaster in recent season, with the past five championship teams averaging 4.4 losses.

King entered this week in third place in the standings but exited in a three-way tie for first place following a come-from-behind victory over Corona on Thursday afternoon. The Wolves scored four runs with two outs in the fifth inning to turn a three-run deficit into a 6-5 win.

“You just can’t get down if you lose that first game of a series because there are still two more big ones to play,” said Madril, whose team dropped the first game to Corona on Monday before evening the series Tuesday. “The big goal is to try to win each series.”

Corona (14-7, 6-3 in league) grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning behind a pair of run-scoring singles from Jonah Rivera and Seth Mifflin. King answered back with two runs during its half of the first, the second on an RBI single by Jase Evangelista.

Mifflin, who started on the mound for Corona, and King starter Brandon Delgado eventually settled in, and the score remained 3-2 in favor of Corona until the fifth inning.

Corona tacked on two runs in the fifth inning, with Ethan Schiefelbein singling in one run and Mifflin driving in his second run of the game on a groundout.

King (17-5, 6-3) loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the fifth, and Corona coach Andy Wise went to reliever Jonathan Dias. John Stark hit a sinking line drive toward the gap in right-center field. Nick Zellers almost made a spectacular diving catch to end the inning, but the ball glanced off of his glove, allowing all three runners to score.

“The pitch did get a little bit in on my hands, but luckily I got enough of it to get it out there to the grass,” Stark said of his game-tying double. “It’s always great to get your team fired up like that.”

Alex Morgan came off the bench and smacked a single over the head of the second baseman to bring in the go-ahead run. Morgan also delivered a key pinch-hit single in the 1-0 victory over Corona on Tuesday.

“He has been hurt most of the season and hasn’t had many chances to play,” Madril said. “Him being a senior, it is exciting to see him come up in big spots for us this week.”

Matt Hudson picked up the victory in relief after retiring all seven batters he faced.

“We shot ourselves in the foot one too many times today,” Wise said. “If you let a good team hang around and leave the door open, something like this will happen. You have to make plays and execute if you expect to win games in this league.”

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