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.
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