Mustangs boast left-handed complement

Barry Faulkner

Unlike some other sports at Costa Mesa High, the Mustang baseball

found its first season in the Golden West League to be less than

rewarding last spring.

But, with a lefty-rich pitching rotation, anchored by senior

All-Newport-Mesa returner Justin Peterson, Coach Doug Deats’ squad is

expected to better its 7-14 record of a year ago, that included a 3-9

mark against league foes.

The Mustangs, who formerly competed in the Pacific Coast League,

have missed the playoffs the last two years and three of the last

four.

But Peterson, who was 5-4 with a 2.57 ERA and struck out 77 in 65

1/3 innings as a junior, will have something to say about ending the

postseason drought.

“Justin looks good right now,” Deats said of last year’s

second-team all-league honoree. “I’m just hoping he picks up where he

left off last year.”

Deats would wish the same for junior Alex Pisarski, who hit .350

(28 for 80) with seven doubles and eight RBIs as a sophomore

shortstop. He was also second-team all-league last season.

Pisarski is recovering from surgery on his right (throwing) hand,

injured in an offseason automobile accident. But Deats believes he

could return to last year’s form.

“He has been going through rehab and has really made rapid

progress,” said Deats, who added Pisarski may be cleared in time to

play in Friday’s season opener.

The Mustangs visit Orange Lutheran at 3 p.m. in the first round of

the Newport Elks tournament.

Senior left-hander Daniel Cooper is eager to put an injury-plagued

junior season behind him, when tendinitis limited him to 24 innings

on the mound. He was 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA in 2003, but Deats believes

both he and Peterson have potential to play college baseball.

“UC San Diego and Chapman [University] are looking at Cooper,”

said Deats, who terms the 6-foot-5 hurler a fastball-slider guy with

the best velocity on the staff.

Senior Gary Gonzalez, who hit .349 last season and leads all

returners with 13 RBIs and one home run, is the third left-handed

pitching option. He was 0-4 in 18 2/3 innings last spring, but Deats

admires his competitiveness.

“He takes a football mentality out there,” Deats said of the

former linebacker.

Gonzalez, the team’s fastest player according to Deats, will play

left field when not pitching. He figures to share the outfield with

Peterson in center and Cooper in right.

Junior Ryan Szwast is also expected to contribute in the outfield

and Pisarski may see duty there, as well.

Junior Jeff Waldron the Newport-Mesa Most Valuable Player in

football and one of Orange County’s top rebounders on the basketball

team, brings his supreme work ethic to his second varsity season. He

hit .277 with 10 RBIs in 36 varsity at-bats last year, after being

summoned from the junior varsity during league play.

“He’s probably better in football and basketball than baseball,

but I’d take nine guys like him and go to battle,” Deats said of his

projected starting third baseman.

Junior Andrew Sanford, the junior varsity MVP last season, is the

starter at first base, while junior Kyle Benson is expected to open

the season behind the plate.

Szwast could nail down the second base job, while junior Dylan

Hunter is expected to open the year at shortstop.

Hunter is expected to lead off, followed in the order, at least

tentatively, by Peterson, Pisarski and Gonzalez. Deats said Waldron

and Cooper could fill the Nos. 5 and 6 spots, with Sanford, Szwast

and Benson rounding out the order.

Senior Chris Loy, sophomore Alex Dominguez, as well as juniors

Rick Wedgeworth, Nick Smith, Alex Munoz and Zach Morton will add

depth.

Deats expects defending co-champion Westminster to lead the race

for the league title, followed by Orange, Ocean View and Santa Ana.

Deats, however, believes his three left-handed starters give the

Mustangs a unique dimension as they attempt to earn a playoff berth.

“All things being equal, the left-hander usually has more success

in high school baseball,” Deats said. “I don’t know what it is, but

that is usually the way it is.”