Islanders Baseball Team Gets to Experience Petco

Maybe the chance to play in a major league ballpark had some members of the Coronado High baseball team so in awe that they didn't play their normal game when they took the field at Petco Park on Saturday to face Madison.

"It certainly was a great opportunity that doesn't come along very often," said Islanders coach Sam Ceci about the 4 p.m. game, the last of five prep games over two days that the Padres organization hosted while the team was up the freeway in L.A. playing the Dodgers. "I guess some of the guys were so excited they forgot how to hit, field and throw."

Ceci was referring to some sloppy play that resulted in a shutout loss, but the Islanders turned things around quickly, beating Madison 4-1 in Tuesday's rematch on the Warhawks' field.

Tyler Brownell had two hits, stole two bases and drove in a run and Coronado scored all four runs in the second inning to pull away. Left-hander  Luke Gillingham tossed the complete-game victory, setting the tone by giving up a leadoff triple in the bottom of the first and stranding the runner by retiring the next three hitters.

The Islanders continued a recent trend of splitting series with their Western League opponents. After dropping a pair to Point Loma to open league play, Coronado has split two-game sets with La Jolla, University City and Madison to stand at 3-5 in the league and 11-14 overall.

The Islanders have four games left, against Mission Bay (home on May 10, away on May 12) and Cathedral Catholic (away on May 17, home on May 19). All games start at 3 p.m.