Costa Mesa baseball rallies past Kaiser in CIF opener
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The Costa Mesa High baseball team has enjoyed historic levels of success this season.
Costa Mesa navigated a trip into a new league, and ended up as undefeated Golden West League champions. After winning the Orange Coast League last year, it’s the first time the program has produced back-to-back league titles.
The Mustangs also have a single-season record 23 wins, surpassing last year’s mark by one.
“Most of these kids on this team have played with us for three or four years,” said Coach Jim Kiefer, who has nine seniors on the squad. “It’s a very experienced team now. So, to see them get to this point and this level, play as well as they have is very rewarding for all of our coaches and for them, too.”
That success has led to a much higher playoff division for the CIF Southern Section playoffs under the new competitive equity model. Mesa jumped from Division 6 last year to Division 3 this year.
Any doubts were erased after a big sixth inning Thursday against visiting Fontana Kaiser.
“After today, I guess we can compete in D3,” senior outfielder Aiden Comte said with a smile after the Mustangs rallied for a 5-3 win in their playoff opener at home. “It feels good to be at the top and be able to produce.”
Costa Mesa (23-6) will play at San Juan Hills in the second round on Tuesday.
The Mustangs were flummoxed for much of Thursday’s game against Zeke Isaak Cortez, the ace senior left-handed pitcher for Kaiser (17-10).
“He’s the kind of left-hander you see in the playoffs,” Kiefer said. “He was sharp.”
The visitors took a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning with Aldo Garcia providing the big hit, fisting a single into shallow left field to score a pair of runs.
Costa Mesa brought in junior Will Morales, who blanked Kaiser for 2 ⅓ innings and earned the win. The Mustangs rallied in the bottom of the sixth.
Mateo Navarro and Owen Dever led off with back-to-back singles. Cortez got an infield pop up and a strikeout, but Costa Mesa wasn’t done. The No. 9 hitter, Omar Gutierrez, walked to load the bases and flip the lineup.
Wylan Rottschafer was hit by a pitch, forcing in a run. Comte followed with a first-pitch single up the middle, driving in two and tying the score.
“I saw that there was a big hole in the middle,” Comte said. “That’s basically my attack every time, try to just kill the pitcher with hitting it right back to him. I guess I hit it just well enough.”
Mesa senior Will Clark had a good at-bat, fouling off a few pitches before depositing a single to right to score two more runs. Cortez was pulled at 109 pitches, but not before the Mustangs had surged into the lead.
“We just played our game,” Clark said. “We’ve had some tougher opponents this year, and that’s really helped us in these close games. We’re able to chip away and come back. It feels great.”
Rottschafer worked around a one-out infield single in the seventh inning to earn the save.
Navarro and Dever both had a pair of hits for the winners, and Grady Jackson also had a single. Senior catcher Jack Shafer was stout behind the plate, throwing out a pair of runners at second base.
It all added up to a feel-good win for the Mustangs, who will now try to advance past the second round of CIF for the first time in the seniors’ tenure.
Laguna Beach 7, Fontana Summit 5: The Breakers earned the road win in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs on Thursday.
Laguna Beach took a 5-0 lead in the second inning, as Thomas Gonzales’ single scored two runs and a double by Becker Sybirski scored two more runs. Lucien Reed was two for four with a triple and RBI for the Breakers.
Gonzales got the win in relief, allowing two runs in four innings.
Pacific Coast League champion Laguna Beach (25-3) hosts Norco in the second round on Tuesday.
Santa Margarita 2, Newport Harbor 0: The Sailors were blanked Thursday in their Division 1 opener, ending a standout season.
Brennan Bauer pitched a three-hit complete game shutout for Santa Margarita. Wyatt Gahm, Adam Martin and Keoni Wun collecting the lone hits for Newport Harbor (22-7), which set a program single-season record with its 22 wins.
Santa Margarita will play at No. 3-seeded Huntington Beach in the second round Tuesday. The Oilers had a first-round bye.
Riverside Hillcrest 4, Ocean View 2: The No. 4-seeded Seahawks couldn’t hold an early lead and were upset in the first round of the Division 5 playoffs Thursday.
Carson Sulsona was two for three with a run batted in for Ocean View. JT Lewis struck out 11 batters in 5 2/3 innings of work, giving up three earned runs.
Ocean View, the Empire League runner-up, finished its season 12-17.
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