Costa Mesa evens Battle for the Bell baseball rivalry with Estancia

Costa Mesa High’s baseball team has struggled to score runs this season.

The Mustangs had scored one or no runs in eight of their first 14 games this season.

So Mustangs coach Don Welsher graciously accepted any help he could get.

It came in the strangest of ways on Tuesday in the second meeting with Battle for the Bell rival Estancia.

Costa Mesa failed to score a run through the first four innings. Then with Miguel Rodriguez at the plate, two runs came in for the Mustangs without the junior catcher putting the ball in play.

Ty Muir and Riley Mitchell scored on wild pitches in the top of the fifth inning, and Costa Mesa went on to beat host Estancia 4-1 in the second game of their three-game Orange Coast League series.

“All season long, the breaks have been going the other way,” Welsher said. “Every ball has bounced against us, and it was nice to see us catch a couple of breaks right there.”

The Mustangs (7-8, 3-3 in league) evened the season series with the Eagles (9-5, 4-2). The rubber match comes on Friday at Costa Mesa at 3:30 p.m.

Junior third baseman Omar Munoz has yet to taste the prize, which is catered by the Newport Rib Co. for the team that wins the cross-town rivalry. He did his part on Tuesday, driving in a pair of runs with a double down the left-field line in the top of the seventh inning.

“I’m a big guy,” Munoz said. “I love some ribs. After three years, I’m definitely waiting for this one. I’m hungry.”

Munoz also made a hustle play at third to help out Mustangs starting pitcher Skylar Manning. Costa Mesa trailed 1-0 in the third inning when Joe Stukkie struck a liner inside the bag at third. Munoz could not hold onto it in the air, but in knocking it down, he saved at least a run.

Manning got Jake Alai to fly out to center with the bases loaded, and Costa Mesa got out of the inning unscathed.

“The snow cone, you’ve just got to try to get a glove on it,” Munoz said. “You’ve got to save some runs, do anything you can to make sure that doesn’t go down the line. That could have potentially been two runs right there.”

Manning worked into and out of trouble all afternoon. He threw a complete game, allowing one earned run after giving up eight hits, hitting three batters and walking two.

“The key for Skylar is they’re going to make contact,” Welsher said. “If he keeps the ball in the zone, he gives us a pretty good chance. He gets a lot of rollover ground balls and fly-ball outs.

“He was a little bit wild today. I think that two of the hit batters were on the jersey, so I’m not too upset about those pitches.”

The Eagles left the bases loaded three times — in the second, third and seventh innings. Estancia left 12 on base for the game. Eagles coach Kevin Conlin took the blame.

“That’s probably bad coaching,” Conlin said. “They say if you only score one run, it’s probably on the coach. I’ve probably got to put our team in some better situations.

“We’ve been swinging the bats well lately. I’m trying to give guys [a chance] to swing it, and it just wasn’t our day.”

Jake Covey and Stukkie had two hits apiece.

Covey threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits. He struck out eight, including the side in the fourth and the sixth.

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner