Costly errors doom Mustangs

Rick Devereux

If the adage is true that defense wins championships, what makes

championship-caliber defense?

Costa Mesa High baseball coach Dave Austin knows what comprises

poor defense. He watched his Mustangs commit seven errors in the

first four innings in a 13-5 loss to Tustin in the championship game

of the Newport Elks tournament at Mater Dei High Saturday.

“We had a defensive lapse,” Austin said. “We weren’t talking. We

weren’t communicating with each other. We weren’t calling out their

bunts.”

Senior pitcher Andrew Sanford was saddled with the loss, even

though he only allowed one earned run through 3 1/3 innings. He struck out four and allowed seven hits.

Costa Mesa (4-1) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Sanford

hit an RBI single to right that scored Alex Pisarski.

Things started to unravel for the Mustangs in the top of the third

when Tustin’s bunts led to baserunners and Mesa mistakes.

J. T. Bill, the first Tustin batter of the inning, reached base on

a throwing error and advanced to second when a sacrifice bunt led to

a throwing error, allowing Bill to take third.

After a balk plated Bill, leadoff hitter Brandon Ross reached

first on a fielding error that put men on first and third.

Jose Bran hit an RBI single to right and Nik Tantardini laid down

a bunt that loaded the bases when Ross was called safe at third on a

fielder’s choice.

After Sanford struck out the next batter, Damian Cruz reached

safely on an RBI squeeze bunt. Sanford, who threw 23 pitches in the

inning and faced nine batters, induced an inning-ending double play

from the next hitter.

“A lot of teams don’t work on their bunt defense,” Tustin Coach

Greg Jennings said. “I was just playing it the way you’re supposed to

play it. If you have guys on first and second with no outs, it’s an

automatic bunt for me.”

The Tillers (5-0) continued to take advantage of Mesa errors in

the fourth, sending 11 batters to the plate.

The Mustangs committed four errors in the fourth, three on Tustin

bunts. The Tillers scored on a bases-loaded hit batsmen, a throwing

error, a fielder’s choice, a fielding error as well as three singles.

“We didn’t execute on defense,” Austin said. “We needed everyone

communicating and knowing where to be and that didn’t happen.”

Mesa mounted a bit of a comeback in the bottom of the fourth when

it loaded the bases with two outs and junior Alex Dominguez blooped a

two-run base hit down the left-field line.

Senior shortstop Dylan Hunter drew a walk to load the bases and

Pisarski followed with an RBI walk to make it 13-4.

The Mustangs added a run in the fifth when Sanford blasted a

leadoff home run to right, but that was all Mesa could muster.

“When you get down by a bunch of runs, you’ve got to stay together

as a team. You’ve got to stay up,” Austin said. “I’ve seen [bigger

comebacks] happen. You’ve got to make the team believe it can

happen.”

Jennings said he told his team to take advantage of Costa Mesa’s

snowballing defense.

“I just wanted us to put the ball in play,” he said. “Our bunting

was hot, and that got the ball rolling for us.” Still, it was only

the first loss of the season for the Mustangs, who got the runner-up

trophy.

“It’s better than coming in last place,” Austin said. “I was

impressed with how Sanford pitched. We’ve just got to play better

defense.”

Costa Mesa plays host to Santiago Monday at 3 p.m.

Newport Elks tournament

Championship

Tustin 13,

Costa Mesa 5

Score by Innings

*--*

Tustin 0 0 5 8 0 0 0 - 13 12 1

Mesa 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 - 5 6 7

*--*

Cook, Shoemate (5) and Tantardini; Sanford, Dominguez (4),

Peterson (6) and Benson. W -- Cook, 2-0. L -- Sanford, 0-1. 2B --

Cook (T), Sanford (CM). HR -- Sanford (CM).