PREPS / ROB FERNAS : Mira Costa Is Making Its Move in Ocean League

Who’s the most valuable baseball player in the South Bay? Not the best player, the player who makes the biggest difference between his team winning and losing. An all-around kind of guy.

That’s probably impossible to answer, but a good candidate would be Mira Costa High senior Jason Garner.

“He’s our workhorse,” Coach Jim Beaumont said.

Garner, a right-hander, has pitched in 12 of Mira Costa’s 15 games and leads the South Bay in innings worked (50) and strikeouts (67). He struck out 14 batters against El Segundo, one of the area’s best hitting teams, in a 3-2 nine-inning victory April 6 in the Palos Verdes-Redondo Tournament.

When not on the mound, Garner plays shortstop. He bats third in the lineup and took a .366 average, second on the team, into Mira Costa’s game Saturday night against Lakewood.

So, it wasn’t surprising to see Garner playing a pivotal role in both of the Mustangs’ Ocean League victories over Palos Verdes this week. Wednesday, he collected a hit and pitched 1 2/3 innings of one-hit relief to earn the decision in a 6-5 triumph. Friday, he pitched a four-hit shutout to help the Mustangs post their fourth consecutive victory, 3-0.

It should also be noted that Garner committed four errors in the two games, including three Wednesday. Hey, nobody is perfect.

The pitching of Garner (4-3) and junior left-hander Joel Garber (2-2) has been perhaps the most important factor in Mira Costa’s recent hot streak. Couple that with an improved offense--the team collected 19 hits in two games against Palos Verdes--and it is little wonder why Mira Costa is threatening first-place Rolling Hills in the Ocean League.

Rolling Hills (5-0-1) leads the Mustangs (4-2) by 1 1/2 games.

“We’re swinging the bats better, that was really the missing link,” said Beaumont, whose team’s anemic offense contributed to several early defeats. “Our defense has been up and down, but the pitching has been very consistent all year. Jason Garner and Joel Garber have held up their end of things on the mound very well.”

Although they have similar surnames, Garner and Garber share little in common as pitchers. Garner is a classic strikeout pitcher who relies on his fastball. Garber favors off-speed and breaking pitches.

“Garber is basically a junk-baller,” Beaumont said. “Other players can’t believe they can’t hit him.”

Mira Costa has a break from league play next week, meeting South Torrance in two nonleague games, before playing Rolling Hills on April 24 and 26 in a series that could decide the Ocean title.

Beaumont said Palos Verdes is protesting its 6-5 loss to Mira Costa on Wednesday, claiming that Garner should have been called for a balk in the top of the seventh inning because he put his hand to his mouth within five feet of the pitching rubber.

At the time, the score was tied, 5-5, and Palos Verdes had runners on first and second. Mira Costa won the game with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

“The spirit of the rule is to prevent someone from throwing a spitball,” Beaumont said. “I don’t think there is anyone around who throws a spitball, and I know Jason Garner doesn’t throw a spitball.

“He wiped off his hand. It’s just an idiosyncrasy.”

There are now three pitchers in the area who have at least 60 strikeouts.

Garner is the leader with 67, followed by Rolling Hills’ Kirt Kishita with 61 in 43 innings and Banning’s Mike Busby with 60 in 41 innings.

Kishita’s total took a big jump Wednesday when he pitched a no-hitter and struck out 18 in a 20-0 victory over Morningside.

Mira Costa basketball standout Chris Davis, a 6-foot-8 power forward who led the South Bay in rebounding last season, gave an unwritten commitment Saturday to San Diego State and said he will sign a letter of intent either today or Monday.

Davis took a recruiting trip to San Diego State last weekend. He visited Colorado and San Jose State before the basketball season.

“I liked the atmosphere in San Diego,” he said. “Plus it’s close to home, so my friends and family can see me play.”

Davis averaged 17.2 points and 14.3 rebounds last season and was named Ocean League co-Player of the Year with Morningside sophomore Stais Boseman, The Times’ South Bay Player of the Year.

Many believe catcher Jeff Poor, a 6-2, 210-pound junior, will be the next great player to come out of the El Segundo baseball program.

“He’s got a lot of talent, plus he’s got the work ethic to go along with it,” Eagle Coach John Stevenson said.

Poor batted four for six, homered twice and drove in seven runs Friday night to power El Segundo past Bell-Jeff of Burbank, 27-1, in a San Fernando Valley League game at Recreation Park in El Segundo. Poor’s seven runs batted in raised his season total to 30 in 16 games.

But it has been Poor’s work with the El Segundo pitchers that has most impressed his coach.

“Catching is a very special position,” Stevenson said. “So many times you’re doing something for somebody else. A catcher, for most of his practice time, is working with pitchers to make them better.

“If a catcher goes out there with a poor work ethic, then the pitcher doesn’t improve. Jeff is a workhorse. He helps the staff by being a worker. He’s not just a reluctant participant.”

Poor’s work with the Eagle pitching staff is reflected in the fine records of the team’s top two starters--senior left-hander Brian Wise (5-0) and junior right-hander Matt Gangawere (5-1). Wise pitched a three-hitter, struck out 14 and walked two in Friday night’s victory, which raised El Segundo’s record to 14-2 overall and 2-0 in league play.

“Jeff definitely has a good grasp of what is going on,” Stevenson said. “The pitchers respect him a great deal. He’s another coach on the field.”

Poor, with 30 RBIs, ranks second in the South Bay behind another junior catcher. Jason Kendall of Torrance raised his season total to 32 with eight RBIs this week in Pioneer League victories of 21-1 and 14-1 over Centennial.

But Kendall wasn’t even his team’s RBI leader for the week.

Torrance third baseman Antone Williamson batted seven for eight, drove in 11 runs and hit his first home run of the season, raising his batting average 79 points to .523.

Williamson, a two-time All-CIF selection, also closed the gap in his pursuit of the Southern Section record for most hits in a career. After Friday, Williamson had 135 hits, 12 shy of the record of 147 set by Scott Davison of Redondo from 1985-88.

Torrance, which entered the week in a three-way tie for the Pioneer League lead, moved into sole possession of first place after West Torrance and South Torrance split two games.

West avenged Wednesday’s 6-2 loss to South by beating the Spartans, 4-3, in 10 innings Friday. Steve Sarkisian got the winning run home in the bottom of the 10th when his bases-loaded grounder bounced off the shoulder of shortstop David Rosato, scoring Tom Dallen.

West right-hander Brian Fitzgerald, who had suffered two consecutive league defeats, picked up the victory with 1 2/3 innings of one-hit relief to improve his record to 5-3.

Torrance leads the league at 5-1, with West and South each at 4-2.

It’s not often when the Hawthorne boys’ track team has a score to settle. Usually it’s the other team that is trying to end years of frustration against the powerful Cougars.

But when Hawthorne meets visiting Beverly Hills in a Bay League dual meet Thursday, revenge will be a factor.

It was Beverly Hills that beat an injury-weakened Cougar team last season, handing Hawthorne its first loss in a league dual meet since 1981.

“We’ve been waiting for this one,” Hawthorne Coach Kye Courtney said. “We’re going to unload on Beverly Hills.”

Courtney said sprinter Erik Allen, the state leader at 200 meters (21.3 seconds), will run the 100 for the first time this season Thursday.

Allen, who will attend UCLA on a track scholarship, has competed solely in the 200 and relays up to this point because coaches wanted to bring him along slowly. He missed last season because he had pulled hamstring muscles in both legs.

Hawthorne’s baseball team also will be trying to even the score against Beverly Hills in a two-game series this week.

With first place in the Bay League at stake, Hawthorne (5-2) plays host Tuesday and travels to Beverly Hills on Thursday. Beverly Hills (7-0) beat Hawthorne, 17-3, last month, but the Cougars have since won five consecutive league games.

Hawthorne kept the streak alive Friday as Alex Figueroa drove in Dennis Stone with a one-out double in the seventh inning to lift the team to an 8-7 victory over host Culver City.