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Corona del Mar baseball beats Newport Harbor in contentious rivalry game

March 21, 2026

Corona del Mar’s Ben Stone slides into home to score a run against Newport Harbor in a Sunset League baseball game in Newport Beach on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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NEWPORT BEACH – Five players were hit by pitches, opposing team coaches jawed at each other, and the home-plate umpire had to approach both dugouts to quell the chatter.

Two catcher interference calls, and a fielder’s interference call, too.

Battle of the Bay, baseball edition.

Corona del Mar beat Newport Harbor, 8-1, in the Sunset League game Friday at Corona del Mar High.

It was the final game of the teams’ three-game league series. Newport Harbor won the previous two games, 4-2 and 8-1.

Newport Harbor, No. 8 in the Orange County Top 25, is 9-2 overall and 4-2 in the seven-team Sunset League. No. 23 Corona del Mar is 6-4 overall and 1-2 in league.

Corona del Mar senior left-handed starting pitcher Stevie Jones went 6 ⅔ innings. He gave up one unearned run on five hits, struck out five and walked one.

Jones increased his career strikeout total to 219. He set the school career strikeout record two weeks ago. Jones is 3-2 on the season; he already set the career pitching wins record, and moved that figure to 23 on Friday.

He was satisfied with his performance. Jones doesn’t throw the ball with the massive velocity common among today’s top high school pitchers. His fastball tails up and away from right-handed batters, his curve finds the strike zone and his change up can freeze hitters.

“I thought the curveball went well,” Jones said. “The changeup worked really well. I left a couple of them up there (in the strike zone) and they got hit, but all of my pitches worked well.”

Corona del Mar senior left-fielder Will Chaves drove in two runs, as did senior third-baseman Brady Zenz.

The Sea Kings took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Max Brengel’s single drove in Charlie Kaster.

Newport Harbor tied it in the top of the third inning. Keoni Wun took off from second base to try to steal third, the throw from Corona del Mar catcher Charlie Kaster was off targer, Wun ran into Sea Kings third baseman Zenz and then was involved in a rundown before eventually scoring.

Corona del Mar’s four-run third inning was helped by two Newport Harbor errors and Zenz’ two-run single up the middle.

The Sea Kings added three runs in the fourth inning led by Chavez’ single that sent home two runs for the 8-1 lead that held from there. Three Corona del mar players – Jones, Sam Healy and Max Brengel – were hit by pitches in that inning.

Jones (5-11, 175) was pulled with two outs in the seventh inning, having reached 110 pitches on the warm afternoon.

“He’s our guy,” said Corona del Mar coach Kevin McCaffrey. “The way he goes is the way we go. I’m proud of the way he competes for us, and he’s been doing that for four years.”

Assistant coaches from the two sides got involved in verbal exchanges. The home plate umpire had to address both dugouts in an effort to matters calm.

Jones said the tense moments were tolerable.

“There were a couple back-and-fourth comments from the dugout,” he said. “We handled it well.”

Corona del Mar baseball beats Newport Harbor in contentious rivalry game Orange County Register

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