Kiefer’s Mustangs don’t move up in league

COSTA MESA — Three times a charm. Yeah, right.

For Coach Jim Kiefer, watching Costa Mesa High face Calvary Chapel a third time was just wild.

“You see things in baseball from time to time, you kind of raise your eyebrows,” Kiefer said.

The Mustangs forced their second-year coach to raise his eyebrows often during Tuesday’s game featuring the Orange Coast League’s top two teams.

Costa Mesa did itself in at home, losing, 10-2, to slip from first to second. In doing so it watched its coach chase the base umpire in the bottom of the sixth.

Things got ugly for Costa Mesa (8-5, 3-2 in league) against the fifth-ranked program in CIF Southern Section Division III.

At the time, the Mustangs trailed, 5-1, and were on the verge of fighting back against the Eagles, who did the small things, moving runners over, bunting for hits, calling hit-and-run plays and a suicide squeeze to improve to 11-2 overall and 4-1 in league.

The Mustangs struggled playing small-ball. Heck, one missed first base after rounding the bag. That’s what forced Kiefer to scoot after the umpire after he called John Rybarczyk out for not stepping on first on his way to what appeared to be his second double.

But with Rybarczyk standing at second, the Eagles checked if the senior missed the bag. They tossed the ball to first, and the umpire flashed the out sign, infuriating Kiefer.

“I just went out to ask him what he saw. He had everybody in the park yelling at him,” Kiefer said. “He told me what he saw, and I asked him if he was sure. It’s not a call you see very often. The certain timing of it was kind of odd. Late in the game, you don’t expect someone to have an eye for that.”

Kiefer already appeared agitated before having to confront the umpire.

In the third inning, he watched his leadoff hitter with no outs not advance two runners into scoring position on a bunt. The batter popped up a high fastball to catcher Bryce Wilson in foul territory.

The following inning, Rybarczyk led off with a double, but after Matt Pisarski’s bloop single to center, he stayed at third base on a routine RBI opportunity. Then he took off when the throw home went over Wilson’s head.

Backing up the play, however, was starting pitcher Aaron Abel, who threw Rybarczyk out at the plate.

Still it appeared as the Mustangs could get to the right-hander before he threw his first complete game and improved to 6-0.

One batter later, Chad Peterson pulled a double down the left-field line, bringing in one run instead of a possible two. Then Garrick Williams singled to center, but Peterson was held at third, leaving runners on the corners. They wouldn’t move up.

One tried after Abel struck out Cody Waldron. But his catcher threw out Williams attempting to steal second for an inning-ending double play. More headaches for Kiefer, seeing Abel, who threw 91 pitches, get out of jams because of bad decisions by his team.

“They did a better job of putting pressure on us than we did putting on them,” Kiefer said.

What the Eagles did was surprise Costa Mesa, which beat Calvary Chapel, 14-7, in a league game on March 23.

Williams (2-3), who lasted six innings, said he was shocked by the Eagles’ offensive approach.

Not only were batters down in the lineup laying down sacrifice bunts, but also cleanup hitter Vinnie Valdez.

Valdez’s bunt toward third went for a single and loaded the bases, setting up a three-run third inning that gave the Eagles a 4-0 lead.

“Last game we played, they came out to play and we came out thinking that we’re going to alienate them because we played for the [Newport Elks Tournament Costa Mesa Division] championship and we killed them [10-4],” said Valdez, who went three for four with an RBI, helping the Eagles beat the Mustangs for the second time this season.

“This time out we came out thinking that, ‘Hey, they are going to give it to us.’”

That should raise any coach’s eyebrows.

Orange Coast LeagueCalvary Chapel 10,

Costa Mesa 2

Score by Innings

CC 1 0 3 0 1 0 5 - 10 13 1

CM 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 2 10 1

Abel and B. Wilson; Williams, Wedgeworth (7), Boulger (7). W -- Abel, 6-0. L -- Williams, 2-3. 2B -- C. Wilson (CC) 2, Valdez (CC), Adams (CC), Williams (CC), Rybarczyk (CM), Peterson (CM). 3B -- Von Berg (CM).