LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

Mavericks complete three-game sweep of rival Falcons

By John Maffei: North County Times jmaffei@nctimes.com

" LA COSTA - A week ago, La Costa Canyon High catcher Will Swanner said the No. 1 thing on his wish list was a three-game sweep of rival Torrey Pines and an out-right Avocado League baseball championship.  Dreams can come true.

  Wednesday, in the third of three well-played games, junior shortstop, Phillip Evans doubled home Bobby Zalud with the winning run in the eighth inning to give La Costa Canyon a dramatic 3-2 victory over Torrey Pines, last year's league champion.

  The victory moves the No. 1-ranked Maverks to 26-4 overall and secured the outright title at 14-1. Torrey Pines ranked No. 4, finished the regular season 22-9, 12-3 in the league.

  Tied at 2 in the eighth, Zalud reached on a one-out error and Kevin Hill walked, bringing Evans to the plate.  The shortstop jumped on a first-pitch fastball, driving it up the alley in left-center field to score Zalud.

  "I was looking for something up, something I could drive." Evans said. " I squared it up, and it felt good. Our whole team has been thinking about this since Torrey Pines swept us last year.  Our main goal was to win the league title. Now we can focus on the playoffs and winning a section championship."

  La Costa Canyon took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Evans' RBI single. Torrey Pines tied it on Zack Zehner's RBI doule in the fourth.  LCC grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the inning on Kyle Durrschmidt's RBI single.

  Durrschmidt made a great throw from right field to Swanner at the plate to cut down the tying run in the sixth, but Reed Mason's two-out, RBI single in the seventh tied the game.

  "The way we kept coming back showed a lot courage." said Torrey Pines coach Matt Chess.  "LCC is a great team, and we have a great team.  We played them tough all three games (losing 4-3, 4-1 and 3-2). I'm really proud of the way we battled."

  LCC and Torrey Pines won't be in the same league next season, and Mavericks coach Justin Machado said he'll miss the rivalry.  "The last two years, this has been two great teams, playing great baseball before big crowds and a great atmospher." Machado said. "All three of the games this season were special, like playoff games. Now we need to focus on the playoffs. The league title is great, but it's not the ultimate goal."