Mustangs make costly mistakes

Bryce Alderton

Saturday began early enough for the Costa Mesa High baseball team and

dragged on even after the final out was made.

Mesa Coach Doug Deats, discouraged by a defense that gave up five

errors, began hitting ground balls to his players after visiting

Paramount sent the Mustangs to their second straight loss with a 10-4

victory in the fifth and final game for both teams in the Newport

Elks tournament.

“Bad game. I am disappointed with the way we played,” said Deats,

whose team fell to 1-4.

Paramount (4-1) scored six runs in the top of the fifth inning --

five with two outs -- to break a 3-3 tie, getting help from two Mesa

errors while tallying just two hits.

An ominous sign for the Mustangs came when, with one out,

Paramount’s Luis Celis became caught in a rundown between first and

third. After two throws, Celis -- chased back toward the second-base

bag by Mesa shortstop Dylan Hunter -- collided with the second

baseman as both players fell to the dirt. The umpire said the second

baseman was in the baseline, signaling interference, and awarded

Celis third base.

The big hits soon followed.

Marco Camacho and Omar Ladezma each doubled in two runs as the

Pirates sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth. A two-out

intentional walk to cleanup hitter Fred Buenrostro and a subsequent

fielding error by the shortstop set the stage for Camacho, who went 3

for 4 with two doubles, four RBIs and a run scored.

“We’ve had good defense and good pitching and, today, we got some

more hitting. But we got some breaks with balls falling in, too,”

said Paramount Coach John Guggiana, a friend of Deats.

The Pirates sacrificed three runners over on bunts and even

managed an infield hit in another attempt, keeping the Mustangs’

defense in its toes.

“Our league [San Gabriel Valley] is a bunting league because a lot

of the fields have no fences. You need to generate, put the ball in

play and emphasize style,” said Guggiana, who has known Deats for 10

years. The two met when Deats coached at Downey, a league rival of

Paramount.

Both teams used four pitchers. Mesa utilized three left-handed

arms, including senior Gary Gonzalez and junior Zach Morton.

Gonzalez made his first start and allowed three runs -- two

unearned -- on three hits to go with three strikeouts in a no

decision.

Junior Zach Morton, in his first appearance of the season, struck

out the side in the sixth and fanned the first batter of the seventh.

“[Morton] was drawing hitters onto their front foot and hitting

spots,” Deats said.

But by the time Morton came on in the sixth, the Pirates held a

9-3 lead.

Junior first baseman Andrew Sanford made it 9-4 in the bottom of

the sixth with a solo home run -- the Mustangs’ first of the year --

over the right-field fence.

The Mustangs’ tied the game, 3-3, with two runs in the fourth.

Jeff Waldron (2 for 3 with a double) singled in a run and Ryan Szwast

brought home Daniel Cooper on an RBI groundout.

Cooper doubled twice and scored two runs batting in the fifth

spot. Gonzalez, Justin Peterson and Alex Dominguez all had hits for

the Mustangs, who arrived at the field thinking the game would start

at 10 a.m. Paramount thought the game began at 11 a.m. and didn’t

arrive until 10:15 a.m.

*--*

Newport Elks tournament Consolation

Paramount 10, Costa Mesa 4 Score by Innings

P’mount 002 160 1 -- 10 8 0

Mesa 010 201 0 -- 4 8 5

Sanchez, Gomez (4), Parra (6), Lara (7)

and Aguilar; Gonzalez, Cooper (4),

Peterson (5), Morton (6) and Benson. W --

Gomez, 1-0. L -- Cooper, 0-2. 2B --

Camacho (P) 2, Ladezma (P), Ortiz (P),

Cooper (CM) 2, Waldron (CM). 3B -- Sanchez

(P). HR -- Sanford (CM).

*--*