Seahawks shut out Mustangs

Bryce Alderton

Visiting Costa Mesa High and Ocean View each sent their aces to the

mound Wednesday for the biggest Golden West League baseball game to

date for either squad.

The pitchers didn’t disappoint.

Costa Mesa senior left-hander Justin Peterson and Ocean View

junior Jeff Roth each showed exemplary command and went the distance

in a battle for first place, in which runs were hard to come by.

The host Seahawks struck for two first-inning runs and made them

stand up for a 2-0 victory, avenging a 3-0 loss to Mesa during the

first round of league.

“[Roth] did a nice job. [Peterson] did a nice job. That was a

well-played high school game,” Costa Mesa Coach Doug Deats said of

the error-free contest. “Their guys got the hits when they needed to

and [Roth] pitched tough when he had to.”

Peterson limited the Seahawks (13-5, 6-2 in league) to four hits

-- only one after the first inning -- while striking out five,

walking two and retiring nine in a row in one stretch.

Roth allowed six hits -- all singles -- while striking out four

with no walks. He retired the last seven batters he faced to improve

to 5-1 this season.

“[Roth] is a battler,” first-year Ocean View Coach Aaron Kavanagh

said. “He’s got all of the intangibles: he is tough, he’s a

competitor and he has baseball smarts.”

Kavanagh expected a pitchers’ duel coming into the game.

“There was no way either of those two pitchers were going to give

up a lot of runs,” Kavanagh said. “This was going to be a one- or

two-run game one way or the other.”

Derek Walsh’s single up the middle scored Robert Purpura for the

Seahawks’ first run, but the second came as a gift of sorts.

With Walsh taking a substantial lead off first, Peterson

stealthily fired to first baseman Andrew Sanford and Walsh took off

for second. But, the Mustangs (10-9, 5-3) were late in covering

second base and Walsh beat the throw.

Third baseman Joey Jameson then ripped an 0-and-2 pitch for a

double into the left-center field gap, plating Walsh to cap the

scoring.

Peterson, who entered with a 1.09 ERA, quieted the Seahawks after

that.

Ocean View got a runner to second base only once after the first

-- in the fifth with one out, but Mesa got out of the jam.

Peterson struck out Purpura on a sweeping curve and third baseman

Alex Pisarski saved at least one run when he dived to his left to

corral a hard-hit ground ball off the bat of Roth and threw to

Sanford, ending the inning.

The Mustangs, though, wasted several scoring chances. Mesa runners

reached third base in the second, third and fifth innings, only to

strand them each time.

The Mustangs left eight, including three in the third when they

loaded the bases with no outs.

Sanford, Jeff Waldron and Alex Dominguez (bunt) all reached with

consecutive singles, but the Seahawks’ defense rose to the challenge.

Roth induced the next hitter to ground to Jameson and the senior

alertly threw home for the force out.

The inning ended one batter later when Jameson ran more than

halfway down the third-base line to corral a high chopper, tagged the

runner attempting to score and then threw to first for a double play.

“Jameson made four really nice plays and [second baseman] Brett

Burda made about four really nice plays,” Deats said. “I didn’t think

we did too bad. We were right there with them.”

Peterson went 2 for 3 while Pisarski added a hit for Mesa, which

hosts Bolsa Grande in a nonleague game at 3:15 p.m. Friday before

resuming league play Wednesday when Orange visits the Mustangs’

field.

Santa Ana and Orange each entered play Wednesday 4-3 in league

while Westminster came in 4-2.

*--*

Golden West League

Ocean View 2, Costa Mesa 0

Score by Innings

Costa Mesa 000 000 0 -- 0 6 0

Ocean View 200 000 x -- 2 4 0

Peterson and Benson; Jeff Roth and Klein. W

-- Roth, 5-1. L -- Peterson, 6-3. 2B --

Purpura (OV).

*--*