Rios, Wood, Mesa All-Stars tough in loss

HUNTINGTON BEACH — In the Costa Mesa National Little League Major Division championship last month, Tyler Rios and Aaron Wood intertwined in a pitchers duel.

With the friendly rivalry set aside, the two represented the Costa Mesa National All-Stars on Tuesday at Marina Park.

“We’ve been teammates before,” Rios said. “We just play, that’s it. We don’t really think about anything, we play the game.”

They played the game, but in the end, Costa Mesa fell to Robinwood, 5-2, in a nail-biter. Robinwood scored three runs in the sixth and final inning to eliminate Costa Mesa from the District 62 Major Division All-Star Tournament.

Trailing Robinwood 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Trevor Borkowski ripped a single. Rios then crushed a ball to center field that bounced off the fence, earning him a tying two-run homerun.

“I haven’t been doing very good this tournament,” Rios said. “[I thought] it looked like a pop up and it kept on traveling and eventually went out the park.”

Rios pitched effectively through 4 2/3 innings, before being pulled due to the pitch count restrictions.

Rios’ new teammate started the game on the other side of the plate for Costa Mesa, as the catcher.

Wood then moved to the bullpen in the top of the sixth.

Jake Stone aided Wood, throwing out a Robinwood runner at the plate in the sixth.

Unfortunately for Costa Mesa, Robinwood rallied.

On one crucial play, Sage Sorachman, of Robinwood, connected with a single to the outfield. The ball bounced and ricocheted off the Costa Mesa center fielder’s chest, scoring a run.

When the inning commenced and the dust settled, Robinwood struck for three runs off of two hits.

“[There was a] bad hop in center field, that was kind of a turning point,” Costa Mesa Coach Rob Stillman said. “If he fields it clean, we throw him out at the plate and it’s a whole different inning. That’s why they call it baseball, it bounces funny sometimes.”

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Costa Mesa fans called for rally caps. Red hats twisted inside out signified hope for Costa Mesa.

Wood singled, but was the lone runner on base for Costa Mesa. Although he stole second, the game ended with Austin Sojka striking out the side for Robinwood.

Robinwood blasted eight hits during the game. But, Costa Mesa battled, adding seven hits of their own.

“[We] played well [and] came back,” Stillman said. “We didn’t quit, even in the last inning, we didn’t quit. It was a letdown but our guys came back in and we still gave it everything we had.”

Jake West played impressive defense for Costa Mesa. Wood blocked numerous balls from behind the plate and Jessie Paz stayed aggressive at shortstop.

Rios’ performance impressed Stillman.

“He pitched a good game,” Stillman said. “He got his pitch count up a little too high so we had to pull him in the fifth which kind of hurt.”

Ben Beck, Donte Cappolia, Matt Jamacz, Jeff Carlyle, Levy Stillman, Chad Fackler and Brad Wilson also played for the Costa Mesa All-Stars.

JASON KORNFELD may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or at jason.kornfeld@latimes.com.