Chatsworth Breaks In New Coach in 6-5 Win

Chatsworth High right-hander Reed McMackin said all it took was one look. First-year baseball Coach Tom Meusborn, he realized, was nearly catatonic.

The tip-off came when Meusborn didn’t make a sound Friday, well aware of the fact that the team’s opener against Rio Mesa was at hand.

“I don’t think he opened his mouth,” McMackin said. “I didn’t hear a word out of him all day.”

McMackin, one of Chatsworth’s three returning lettermen, approached Meusborn to make sure the malady was temporary.

“I went up to him and said, ‘You ready for this?’ ” McMackin said. “Think about it. That’s what he should have been asking me . I bet that last inning aged him seven or eight years too.”

The names have changed, as has the coach, but the results at Chatsworth seem to be pretty much the same. After falling behind by five runs, the Chancellors rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 6-5 win in a first-round game of the Westside tournament at Chatsworth.

“We showed a lot of heart coming back from 5-0,” Meusborn said. “That’s going to be a characteristic of this club. Every game might go down to the wire.”

McMackin, who allowed seven hits, walked his own high-wire early. Rio Mesa leaned on McMackin heavily in the first three innings, scoring five runs. McMackin faced 23 batters over the first four innings before settling down. By that time, however, Dmitri Young and Mike Mitchell had each knocked in a run, Sam Garcia had doubled in two and Carlos Rios had knocked in another with a sacrifice fly.

Rio Mesa right-hander David Soliz was in control until the fifth when Chatsworth scored three times. Soliz was yanked after Mike Mancuso tripled in two runs and Nestor Martinez singled home Mancuso to cut the lead to 5-3.

Young, a junior who already has been selected the state freshman and sophomore player of the year, then made his varsity pitching debut and escaped the jam. In the sixth, however, Young walked three batters--including Rodney Bloom with the bases loaded--to bring Chatsworth within a run.

In the seventh, Young walked Martinez, Mitch Root (two hits), and McMackin to load the bases with one out. After Young retired Soly Maya on a pop fly, he walked pinch-hitter Nick Simpson on a 3-and-2 pitch to tie the score and Bloom on four pitches--Young’s seventh walk in two innings--to end the game.