Baseball: Los Amigos leaves Mesa in the fog.

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - In one of the better-pitched games in recent memory,

Costa Mesa High’s baseball team was edged out by Los Amigos, 1-0, Tuesday

night at TeWinkle Park.

Too bad the outfielders missed a good chunk of the excitement.

With a heavy fog and a chance of cancellation hanging over the field,

Costa Mesa right-hander Brent Stevens and Lobos’ hurler Rafael Jesus

pressed on and managed to shut down the offense of both teams.

“It was just a well-played game on both sides,” Coach Kirk Bauermeister

said. “Both teams’ pitchers took advantage of the elements. It definitely

was tough to see up at the plate for both sides.”

Stevens struck out six, while allowing only one run on two hits.

“He was able to get three different pitches over for strikes and when you

do that you have a great shot at winning,” Bauermeister said. “His

curveball, change-up and fastball were all working for him.”

But in the words of the ‘70s rock band, the Doobie Brothers, “Jesus was

just all right tonight.”

Rafael Jesus threw a complete-game three-hit shutout with eight

strikeouts, retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced. He also scored

the game’s only run on a two-out, RBI triple by, Jesus Rudarte, whose two

triples were the lone hits by the Lobos (2-3).

“He pitched real well tonight, but we made it pretty easy for him,”

Bauermeister said. “I think 17 of our outs were either pop-ups or

strikeouts. We definitely need to get our offense going heading into

league.”

With one out in a scoreless game, Jesus reached first base on a walk.

After a stolen base, he reached third base on a ground out, before

Rudarte sent a long drive deep into the pea-soup sky, finding the

left-field alley and scoring Jesus easily.

Mesa (2-2-1) had its best chance to score in the third inning when Billy

Halverson led off with a walk. But a failed sacrifice bunt attempt left

Halverson at first. A two-out single by Josh Little moved Halverson to

second, where he was stranded.

“We didn’t get our bunts down and that hurt us,” Bauermeister said. “We

really have to focus on the little things to be successful. I told the

guys that we can’t rely on the three-run home run like we did last year.”

Nick Cabico, who came into Tuesday’s game with nine hits in nine

consecutive at-bats, struck out in the first to end the streak, but went

1 for 3 for the game.

The Mustangs open up Pacific Coast League action Friday at 3:15 p.m. when

they host arch rival Estancia.

“It’s gonna be an emotional game,” Bauermeister said. “They’re always

like that when we play them.”

Steven Shores was the other Mustang to record a hit off of Jesus, but his

stellar diving snag at third base ended a third-inning rally by the

Lobos.

Despite the loss, Bauermeister liked what he saw out there.

“I was very pleased with our pitching and our defense tonight,”

Bauermeister said. “We’re a very young team and this will be a good

learning lession for our club. There were some positives we can take from

this game, that’s for sure.”

NONLEAGUE

Los Amigos 1, Costa Mesa 0

Los Amigos 000 001 0 - 1 2 0

Costa Mesa 000 000 0 - 0 3 2

Jesus and Bruno. Stevens and Fajardo. W - Jesus, 2-1. L - Stevens, 0-1.

3B - Rudarte (LA) 2.