Mustangs show heart, youth in setback

COSTA MESA ? With a vastly inexperienced roster, first-year Costa Mesa High baseball coach Jim Kiefer said he is virtually starting from scratch when it comes to teaching the Mustangs how to play the game at the varsity level.

But in Monday’s Newport Elks Tournament pool-play game against visiting Century, the Mustangs showed they already know how to scratch and claw.

The Mustangs (0-2) battled back from a 15-2 deficit, before finally succumbing, 15-12, to the Centurions (2-0).

Costa Mesa had a would-be three-run home run sail just foul off the bat of Garrick Williams in its final at-bat. But Century, which benefited from seven Costa Mesa errors and some other miscues that weren’t recorded in the box score, held on to remain unbeaten.

Costa Mesa had 10 different hitters produce their 15 hits, 11 of which came after the fourth inning.

“In the second half of the game, our hitters had a much better approach,” Kiefer said. “We want them to be aggressive and, at the same time, be situational hitters. They did a much better job putting the ball in play. If you hit it hard on the ground somewhere, good things are going to happen.”

The Mustangs rapped out six hits to score six runs in the fifth, chasing starter Mike Castaneda, who had limited them to four hits and two runs the first four innings.

Junior right fielder John Rybarcyzk went 3 for 3 with a walk and scored two runs, while freshman Mike Molina was 3 for 5 with a pair of runs for the Mustangs.

Andrew Millian came off the bench to go 2 for 2 with an RBI, while Williams and junior Cody Waldron each drove in two runs for the hosts.

Matt Pisarski, a junior catcher, went 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Mustangs.

Defense proved much more problematic for Costa Mesa, which had two errors in both the second and third innings and committed single errors in the first, fourth and fifth.

“It’s a very young team with very little experience,” Kiefer said. “In some ways, we’re starting from scratch. But it’s exciting to see the light go on with these guys. It’s easy to see progress in just a short period of time.”

The Mustangs used five pitchers, with Waldron earning the best results. He took the mound to start the fifth and worked two scoreless innings, yielding just two hits.

“That was only the second time he has been on the mound this season, including one bullpen,” Kiefer said of Waldron, who played for the varsity basketball team after playing for the school’s football team in the fall.

Century first baseman Danny Ray Perez went 4 for 4 with a walk, including a three-run home run in the third. He finished with four RBIs.

Eric Lopez and Adrian Frias also had four hits apiece for the Centurions, who produced four of the game’s five extra-base hits.