Veteran Mustangs off to strong start

COSTA MESA — When asked what went wrong in his first year with Costa Mesa High’s baseball team, Coach Jim Kiefer said experience.

The Mustangs’ lacked it.

They don’t this year.

The benefits of having six starting seniors are paying off as Costa Mesa is off to a blazing start. The Mustangs are 4-1, after falling in the Costa Mesa Division title game of the Newport Elks Tournament Saturday against Calvary Chapel.

Now that the tournament is over, will the Mustangs continue the success? Kiefer thinks so.

“We basically had one senior last year who played, and everybody else was an underclassman,” Kiefer said. “That’s a reason why we had the [9-16] record that we did because we were young and very inexperienced compared to most of the teams in the league that we played in.”

League should no longer give the Mustangs as much trouble. They’ve left the deeper Golden West League, in which they finished 2-9, and are now in the new four-team Orange Coast League.

During the Newport Elks Tournament championship, Costa Mesa got a taste of the team Kiefer said it would need to go through in order to claim the league crown.

That team is Calvary Chapel, which last year shared the title in the more competitive Pacific Coast League.

Calvary Chapel earned a 10-4 victory Saturday at Costa Mesa, allowing Kiefer to see what the Eagles had to offer.

“We still get to play them four times,” said Kiefer of the number of games Costa Mesa will also play rival Estancia and Laguna Beach in league.

Seeing a team more than the usual two or three times could put a big burden on Costa Mesa’s pitching staff.

The more times hitters see a pitcher, the more likelihood they’ll perform. Kiefer likes his chances with his staff, led by senior starters Garrick Williams and Chad Peterson and junior Andrew Millian, as well as senior reliever Matt Wedgeworth.

Williams was 3-4 last season with a 3.85 ERA. He allowed 41 hits and struck out 22 in 43 2/3 innings.

Millian, who hit .329 with nine RBIs last season, was 0-1 in limited pitching duty.

Peterson was 1-2 on the mound in 2006.

“Our thing the first eight games before we start league was just to try to get off to a good start,” Kiefer said. “To get these wins right off the bat definitely helps our team’s confidence.”

The staff has excelled early on, unlike it did last year, when it allowed 15 runs twice in Costa Mesa’s first five games.

The bats are coming around. Peterson and seniors John Rybarczyk (right fielder) and Zach Von Berg (second baseman) are getting opportunities to drive in runs with leadoff man Gabe Sanchez getting on base.

Rybarczyk earned All-Newport-Mesa recognition last season, when he hit a team-leading .408 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.

Senior Matt Pisarski hit .360 with one home run and 18 RBIs last season, while senior Cody Waldron hit .304 with 12 RBIs and a team-leading six stolen bases last spring.

“Playing good catch, playing good defense, pitching well, throwing a lot of strikes, those things are going to give our offense [a break],” Kiefer said. “Once we start hitting a little better, then we’ll have a more balanced attack. The results will follow.”

The Mustangs meet Beckman Wednesday at 4 p.m. at TeWinkle Park and open league March 20 at home against Laguna Beach.