Homes

The Corona del Mar High boys' lacrosse team earned the top seed in the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division playoffs and Newport Harbor a No. 13 seed. The Sea Kings (15-2), the defending U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division champions, open at home against No. 16 Dana Hills on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. CdM is ranked No. 4 in the state by LaxPower.com. The Sailors (6-11) play at No. 4 JSerra on Tuesday at 6 p.m. - From staff reports * BASEBALL Corona del Mar 6, Ocean View 5 CORONA DEL MAR - Tyler Duncan, the winning pitcher, delivered a walk-off single that scored Brett Olson in a make-up game of the Newport Elks Tournament Saturday.

IRVINE - There was the bunt and the blast, but UC Irvine's 5-4 Big West Conference baseball victory over visiting UC Davis on Friday would not have happened without the backbone of Anteaters starting pitcher Andrew Thurman. Thurman, who threw 73 of his 105 pitches for strikes, left the bases loaded in the seventh to keep the game deadlocked at 4-4. It was, perhaps, his best moment in a game in which he had both good and bad stretches. The blast, a solo home run by sophomore third baseman Taylor Sparks to lead off the UCI sixth inning, had pulled the hosts (26-12, 8-5 in conference)

Newport Beach police evacuated three homes in Corona del Mar after a woman called, saying she and a man got into a fight, police said Wednesday. Police responded at about 9:50 p.m. Tuesday to the 300 block of Goldenrod Avenue, according to Newport Beach Police Department spokeswoman Kathy Lowe. The man refused to leave the home so authorities evacuated residents from three nearby homes as a safety precaution, Lowe said. Residents were allowed to return about an hour and a half later.

COSTA MESA - Spring break is this week for Costa Mesa High. The boys' volleyball team doesn't have much time off, though. The Mustangs went to school on Monday and prepared for an upcoming Orange Coast League match. The next day, they returned to the gym to play host to their rival, Estancia. Costa Mesa senior Noah JeyaRajah said it was still a little hard getting up for the Eagles during spring break. And it showed in the first set on Tuesday, as the Eagles jumped out to a seven-point lead.

A bomb squad combing a Costa Mesa home where police say a man blew himself up in an apparent suicide have found three additional explosive devices inside, authorities said Monday. Sixteen homes near the 3100 block of Bermuda Drive have been evacuated as multiple agencies --including the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Costa Mesa police and the Orange County Fire Authority -- remained on the scene.  Two of the devices, described as crudely made, have been detonated.

Hazmat and bomb squad crews were searching a home in Costa Mesa where a man died after setting off an explosion. At least 16 homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution. According to police, the blast happened a residence in the 3100 block of Bermuda Drive between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Sunday. Neighbors said that, on Sunday evening, the man who owns the home was lying unresponsive on his front lawn. An ambulance was called, but he refused to go to the hospital, and instead went back into the house.

The contents of a long, rambling essay written by a Costa Mesa man who likely blew himself up in an apparent suicide are concerning police, authorities said Monday. The 17,000-word essay, titled “The Pricker: A True Story of Assassination, Terrorism and High Treason,” includes references to aliens, the  O.J. Simpson  trial, the U.S. government and “the pricker,” which the author describes as “an assassin's weapon that deposits biological agents into a victim's skin, on contact, without their knowledge.” Though its author, 52-year-old Kevin Harris, apparently killed himself in the Mesa Verde area Sunday evening, elements of it are still of concern, said Lt. Jerry Hildeman.

CORONA DEL MAR - Brett Olson went two for four with a run batted in to help lead the Corona del Mar High past University and star pitcher Jordan Scheftz, 9-7, Friday at CdM. The Sea Kings (6-11, 2-5 in league) pounded out 10 hits on Scheftz, the UC Irvine-bound senior who went the whole way. CdM overcame a 5-0 deficit after two innings. The Sea Kings scored two in the second inning after Nolan McCarthy's two-RBI single. CdM added two more runs in the third, highlighted by Tyler Duncan's double.

Irvine police have arrested a Costa Mesa couple who detectives suspect worked as a robbery and getaway team. Tyler Kovacs, 27, would try to steal something while his wife Karen Kovacs, 26, waited in a car idling nearby, police alleged Tuesday. Tyler Kovacs asked to borrow someone's iPhone in a coffee shop at Alton Parkway and Jeffrey Road in Irvine about 5 p.m. Monday, police said. When he tried to leave with the phone, the victim chased him and tried to physically stop him, but the husband reached his wife's waiting car and escaped, police said.

Irvine police are searching for a man they say lured a young girl to his car and then exposed himself to her. The 6-year-old child was walking home from school with two older siblings about 1:45 p.m. near Deerfield and Yale avenues, according to a statement from Irvine police. As she trailed behind her siblings, a man pulled up to the curb and started talking to her, asking where she goes to school and where she lives, police said. He then allegedly asked her if she'd "seen this" and exposed himself to her as she looked in the open passenger-side window.