Prep baseball: Mesa handles Vaqueros, 8-5

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - In order to get top value from his pitching staff this

season, Costa Mesa High Coach Kirk Bauermeister decided to utilize the

middle man.

So, Bauermeister and pitching coach Joe Broesamle worked with senior

left-hander Ryan Costelloe on a sidearm delivery, with the intent of

giving opposing hitters something unusual to deal with between the

starters and closer Carlos Franco.

The scenario worked to perfection Tuesday, as Costelloe pitched three

strong relief innings to earn the victory in the Mustangs’ 8-5 triumph

over visiting Rancho Alamitos in the quarterfinals of the Foothill-Costa

Mesa Tournament.

Costelloe, a starting pitcher for the junior varsity last spring,

allowed two hits and one run, a solo homer, in his varsity pitching

debut. He struck out three and walked none.

Starter Nick Cabico fanned five and also did not issue a walk in three

one-hit innings. But, despite owning a 7-2 lead, he was removed one

inning short of the required minimum for starters to earn the victory.

Franco struck out two in the final inning, surviving a two-run homer

by Brad French, his second of the game, to keep Mesa unbeaten at 2-0.

The Mustangs will host Ocean View Thursday in a 3 p.m. semifinal.

“The thing I was happiest about today was that even though our

pitchers weren’t especially sharp, they didn’t walk anyone,” Bauermeister

said. “We’re going to score some runs, so we need our guys to throw

strikes and rely on the defense. We want to make the other guys earn

their runs. If they hit solo or two-run home runs, fine.”

The Vaqueros (1-1) hit a pair of two-run bombs and produced their

other run on the aforementioned French solo shot.

But, Mesa produced three runs in each of its first two at-bats, when

it put together seven of its 11 hits.

Senior second baseman Steven Shores yanked an RBI double into the

left-field corner to open the scoring, then Franco followed with a

two-run single up the middle to help the Mustangs erase a 2-0

first-inning deficit.

Josh Feldman, Cabico and Mike McGuire drove in runs to key a two-out

Mesa rally in the second and Shores homered to lead off the third to make

it 7-2.

Both Rancho runs off Cabico were unearned as Frank De La Rosa’s

two-run, two-out homer came after another Vaquero reached base on an

errant throw to first after swinging and missing at strike three, which

hit the dirt.

It was the first of three Mesa errors, but the only one that proved

costly, thanks to its effective hurlers.

“As herky-jerky as (Costelloe) is, we thought we could bring him in in

certain situations and he’d throw some ground balls,” Bauermeister said.

“He didn’t throw sidearm last year, but we dropped him down. We knew we

had three solid starters in Jeremiah Haubrick, Cabico and Brent Stevens

and we knew Carlos would close. But we needed someone to get to Carlos

and we thought, if Costelloe could show the hitters something different,

it would be a good mix.”

Senior first baseman Antony Grubisich, who made two fine defensive

plays, drove in the final Mesa run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Cabico finished 3 for 3 with a stolen base, while Shores and Franco

both went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

Senior designated hitter Kevin DeSandro took advantage of his first

start this season by going 2 for 2. He accounted for the only two hits in

the bottom four spots of Mesa’s order.

Feldman plucked two sinking line drives off the center-field grass for

some additional defensive highlights.

FOOTHILL-COSTA MESA TOURNAMENT

Quarterfinal

Rancho Alamitos 200 001 2 - 5 5 2

Costa Mesa 331 010 x - 8 11 3

Song, Cummings (3), Clark (5) and F. De La Rosa; Cabico, Costelloe

(4), Franco (7) and Carrasco. W - Costelloe, 1-0. L - Song, 0-1. 2B -

Feldman (CM), Shores (CM). HR - F. De La Rosa (RA), Shores (CM), French

(RA) 2.