Prep baseball: Still no done deal

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - The Corona del Mar High baseball team was hoping to

stick a fork in Pacific Coast League rival Costa Mesa Monday, eliminating

the Mustangs and clinching the circuit’s third and final guaranteed CIF

Playoffs berth.

Instead, it was only the Mustangs’ postgame barbecue burgers which were

rendered “done,” as host Costa Mesa earned an 8-6 victory.

The verdict, keyed by a complete-game, 10-strikeout pitching performance

from Mesa sophomore Nick Cabico, sets up a win-or-go-home rematch

Wednesday at CdM.

“The playoffs start Wednesday,” said Coach John Emme, who guided the Sea

Kings (12-11, 5-6 in league) to the CIF Southern Section Division IV

title last spring. “It’s the first round of CIF, which is a six-round

tournament, now.”

Mesa Coach Kirk Bauermeister, whose squad improved to 10-14-1, 4-7), was, by necessity, dealing with a more severe timeline.

“We won our first playoff game today,” Bauermeister said. “Wednesday will

be (the Sea Kings’) first playoff game, so we have the edge in

(single-elimination) experience right now.”

If the Mustangs prevail Wednesday, they would pull into a third-place tie

with CdM. They would, however, hold the tiebreaker advantage, due to

winning two of three head-to-head meetings.

If CdM wins, it follows University and Laguna Beach into the postseason.

The Sea Kings’ mission Wednesday is less difficult with Cabico eliminated

from consideration as the starting pitcher. Monday, the second-year

varsity performer, who notched his second win this season, yielded only

one earned run. He allowed only one earned run in a 2-1 first-round loss

to CdM March 31.

In his first start against CdM, he did not strike out a batter. Monday,

he fanned eight different Sea Kings, including three in the third to

leave the bases loaded and protect a 1-1 tie.

“Nicky clutched up and threw about 197 pitches,” Bauermeister said,

exaggerating slightly the 141 pitches (85 strikes) the right-hander used

to finish the job.

“The plan was for us to get six innings out of Nicky today, then go to

Carlos (Franco, who has five saves) for the seventh,” Bauermeister said.

“But Nicky told me he wanted to go out for the seventh.”

After a two-out walk, Bauermeister ventured to the mound to, once again,

mention the prospect of a Franco finish.

“I went out and said, ‘Let’s go to Carlos, because he’s fresh,’ but

(Cabico) told me he wanted to finish it.”

Cabico said he had command of his fastball and change-up and that his

curveball came around after the mildly tenuous first three innings.

Eric Snell opened the scoring in the second with a one-out,

opposite-field home run, but Mesa’s Steven Shores launched the equalizer,

over the left-field fence, in the same inning.

CdM used two walks and a single to load the bases in a scoreless third,

and Mesa senior Josh Little singled in a run in the bottom half to give

the Mustangs the lead for good.

The visitors stranded two more runners in the fourth and Mesa sent 11

hitters to the plate for a six-run fourth to create a seemingly

comfortable cushion.

Shores reached on an error to drive in a run, Cabico doubled in another

and Little added another RBI to the Mesa outburst, which also included

two CdM errors, a couple other Sea King miscues and four unearned runs.

The Sea Kings, however, weren’t finished.

With two outs in the fifth, CdM pieced together a five-run rally,

combining hits by John DiCesare, Andrew Johns and Nick Lutton with four

Mustang errors.

But Cabico, who said he felt strong, after pitching only one inning last

week, retired seven of the next eight hitters to keep his team’s playoff

chances alive.

Little finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs, while McGuire added two hits and a

stolen base. Billy Halverson also went 2 for 3 for the winners.

Snell, who also pitched 2 1/3 scoreless relief innings, had the only

two-hit day for the Sea Kings. He reached base three times and scored

twice.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Costa Mesa 8, Corona del Mar 6

Corona del Mar 010 050 0 - 6 8 2

Costa Mesa 011 600 x - 8 9 4

Martinez, Snell (4) and McKeever, Lutton (4); Cabico and Fajardo. W -

Cabico, 2-4. L - Martinez, 4-6. 2B - M. McGuire (CM), Cabico (CM),

DiCesare (CdM). HR - Snell (CdM), Shores (CM).