LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

North County Times

By Terry Monahan

 "Oceanside - Most of the time, 11 hits and five walks provides enough punch to easily win a baseball game. However, there are those occasions when, even with a well-pitched effort, the attack fails to convert runners into runs and a team winds up loosing a game it dominated. That's what could've happened Saturday to La Costa Canyon High in the finals of the 29th annual Falcon-Pirate Classic at Oceanside High. Despite leaving 10 runners on base, the Mavericks tallied three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull out a 6-4 victory over rival Torrey Pines. Two of those runs scored on wild pitches. "It was all good in the end," La Costa Canyon senior outfielder Bobby Zalud said. "We couldn't finish it off all day, and normally our two-out offense is the best around. We finally stepped up after we blew a lot of chances." Trailing 4-3 in the sixth inning, the Mavericks (6-0)opened with Kevin Hill's single to center. He was promptly balked to second base. Zalud bunted down the third-base line for a single and moved up on a ground out, putting runners at second and third with one out. That bunt single turned out to be the key play of the inning because Reed Mason, the third pitcher of the game for the Falcons (4-2) issued an intentional walk to Will Swanner loading the bases, then threw a wild pitch to score Hill. Zalud took third base. The next pitch was also wild as Zalud came in with the go-ahead run. Justin Graeber's sacrifice tacked on an insurance run. Phillip Evans and Max MacNabb both went 2 for 3 for the Mavericks in addition to Zalud's 2 for 4 performance. Garrett Stubbs was 2 for 4 for the Falcons, who banged out eight hits in the game. Junior Trent Swart, making his second varsity appearance for the Mavericks, pitched 3 and two third innings in relief, allowing no runs, two hits and walking two, while striking out seven to pick up his first career varsity win. "He did a great job keeping them off balance," LCC coach Justin Machado said. "They were hitting the ball on us and feeling good with a 4-3 lead. This was the first time we struggled to score runners. It's good to deal with a little adversity against a good team and come out on top." But there are at least three more meetings this season between the rivals. "There is nothing wrong beating Torrey Pines for anything." Zalud said. "They swept us last year and that hurt so it's good to start off playing them with a win since we'll see them three more times during (Avocado League) play and we beat them twice in football this year too."

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The Mavericks have now won the Falcon-Pirate Tournament 8 out of the last 14 years. The key has frequently been the underclssmen who step up with their best pitching game ever.