Prep baseball: Mesa beats up on Lobos

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - Two Los Amigos High pitchers got drilled in the leg

and the Lobos absorbed a 14-2 mercy-rule-shortened nonleague loss to

Costa Mesa at TeWinkle Park Tuesday night.

But it was the host Mustangs who dialed 911.

“I told the guys before the game this was our emergency game,” Mesa

Coach Kirk Bauermeister said. “We have some guys who we may need if

someone else gets hurt, or can’t play. We haven’t had much of a chance to

get them at-bats or time in the field, but we did that tonight.”

With only one regular among the eight position players behind starting

pitcher Brent Stevens, the Mustangs’ bench brigade made the most of its

time in the spotlight.

The hosts lashed nine of their 14 hits in the first inning, when they

scored nine times to put the Lobos on the ropes.

The victory improved Mesa to 5-0, an unprecedented start, according to

Bauermeister, a Mustang alum, in his second as the program’s head man.

Senior Evan McGuire highlighted the offensive outburst for the

winners, going 3 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs.

He had two singles in the opening frame, when junior Mike Carrasco

(two), junior Billy Halverson, Stevens, senior Charlie Amburgey, senior

Matt Snyder and senior Mike Armstrong also produced hits to blow things

open.

Senior Kevin DeSandro and Armstrong also walked and scored, giving

Stevens all he would need to secure the first win of his senior campaign.

Carrasco, Halverson, Amburgey, Snyder, McGuire and Amrstrong all drove

in runs, with Halverson and Amburgey plating a pair with one swing of the

aluminum.

Stevens held the Lobos hitless the first two innings, before sparking

a one-run Mesa second with a leadoff single. He moved to third on

Amburgey’s second hit, an opposite-field liner to right, before coming

home on Snyder’s fielder’s choice.

Los Amigos got its first hit in the third, a line single to center,

but McGuire charged the ball and threw to third in time to nail a Los

Amigos runner who had walked, for the third out of the inning.

After Mesa was held scoreless in the third and Stevens gave way on the

mound, the Lobos scored twice in the fourth to cut into the required

10-run mercy rule minimum needed to halt the game after at least five

innings.

The Mustangs, however, began shuffling in regulars in its fourth

at-bat and scored four times on three hits, two walks and a two-out,

two-run error.

Senior Jeremy Cooper drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly,

before McGuire doubled in another. After a single loaded the bases, a pop

near first base appeared to be the third out, but it fell for an error,

giving the hosts their final two runs.

Stevens struck out three and yielded just one hit, while senior Ryan

Costelloe fanned two in his one inning of relief to close the door.

Amburgey went 2 for 2 with a walk and two RBIs, while Carrasco went 2

for 3 with one RBI and Halverson drove in two runs with a 1-for-3 effort.

Stevens went 2 for 2 and pinch-hitters Carlos Franco and Costelloe

also added to the base-hit barrage.

“We accomplished everything we set out to do tonight,” Bauermeister

said.

NONLEAGUE

Costa Mesa 14, Los Amigos 2 Los Amigos 000 20 - 2 4 2

Costa Mesa 910 4x - 14 14 2 Myers, Perez (4) and Bruno; Stevens, Snyder (4), Costelloe (5) and

Carrasco. W - Stevens, 1-0. L - Myers. 2B - Carrasco (CM), McGuire (CM).