Rio Mesa’s ‘Dominator’ Adds One More to the List

The Rio Mesa High baseball team will conclude its season at Dodger Stadium on Saturday after Tuesday’s 11-1 win over Lompoc at Cabrillo High in the Southern Section 3-A Division semifinals.

A year ago, Rio Mesa finished its year at Anaheim Stadium, defeating Lompoc for the 3-A title.

Rio Mesa’s Sean Luft enjoys the idea of his team ending another season at a major league stadium.

“You can’t beat that,” the Spartans first baseman said.

Lately, it’s been just about impossible to beat Rio Mesa, which will play for its fourth Southern Section championship in seven years. The Spartans’ opponent is Western of Anaheim, which defeated El Segundo, 7-1, on Tuesday.

By pounding out 15 hits, including three each by Luft, Art Espinoza, Heath DeLaTorre and Mike Runge, the Spartans crushed another playoff opponent. In their four games leading to Dodger Stadium, the Spartans (24-4) have outscored their opponents, 37-3.

“They do everything you have to do to be a good baseball team,” Lompoc Coach Dan Bodary said. “They play sound defense, they pitch around the plate and they run well. And they have awfully good hitters.”

None better right now than Luft. Nicknamed the “Dominator” because of what he’s done so many times this season, the 6-4 senior had a run-scoring triple in the first inning, a single in the third and a three-run home run in the sixth.

“I’m just seeing the ball well and driving it,” said Luft, who has nine hits in 15 at-bats in the playoffs. Luft, who went into the game hitting .421, also has 13 RBIs in the playoffs to bring his season total to 33.

Luft put Rio Mesa on the scoreboard with two outs in the first inning, lining a triple to the fence in right field to score DeLaTorre.

The Spartans took a 2-0 lead in the second on Espinoza’s RBI single. DeLaTorre’s single in the fourth scored Runge.

But the Braves (18-8), who lost to the Spartans, 9-1, in last season’s title game, saw their season unravel in the final two innings.

With one out in the top of the sixth, Espinoza doubled to left. An out later, DeLaTorre walked. Luft then sent Bentley’s first pitch over the center-field fence, 350 feet away for a 6-0 Spartan lead.

Three Lompoc errors in the seventh led to five more Rio Mesa runs.

Phil Maquinalez improved his record to 9-2 by going the distance for Rio Mesa. Maquinalez, a right hander, gave up six hits while striking out four. He did not walk a batter. Bill Bentley (9-2) took the loss.