LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

North County Times By: John Maffei

 " Mavs catcher secures comeback win over Torrey Pines -

  Will Swanner has a college baseball scholarship to Pepperdine tucked safely in his pocket. Plus, he has professional scouts buzzing all around.

  He was in the moment on Wednesday as No. 1 - ranked La Costa Canyon and No. 4 Torrey Pines squared off in the first of a three - game showdown for first place in the Avocado League.

  That was clear when LCC's senior catcher delivered in the clutch.  He slugged a homer in the sixth to tie the game and drew a bases-loaded, walk-off walk in the bottom of the seventh as the Mavericks beat Torrey Pines 4-3 before a large crowd at La Costa Canyon High School.

  The win was the 10th in a row and 15th in the last 16 games for the Mavericks who improve to 24-4 overall and 12-1 in the league. Torrey Pines, which saw its 14 - game winning streak end falls to 12-1 and 22-7. The teams play again Friday afternoon at Torrey Pines and Wednesday at LCC to close out league play.

  "This was a total team effort," Swanner said. "I'm not worried about a scholarship or the draft, I just want to win the league title outright."  To do that, the Mavericks need to sweep Torrey Pines. The final game figures to be a rematch of Wednesday's pitching duel between left-handers Joey DeNato of Torrey Pines and Max MacNabb of La Costa Canyon. Both were brilliant in the first meeting. Both struck out nine.

  "That was a great matchup beween the two best pitchers in the county." said LCC coach Justin Machado after MacNabb improved to 9-1 and DeNato fell to 7-2. "Both of them pitched their butts off, gave great efforts. Both cleanup hitters (Swanner and Josh Sabourin of Torrey Pines) hit home runs. Both sides got clutch hits. There was a great crowd. This was a lot of fun."

  After giving up an unearned run in the first inning. DeNato retired eight in a row before La Costa Canyon struck for a single run in the fourth, but the biggest blow came when Swanner homered in the sixth.  Kyle Durrschmidt started the winning rally with a one-out single. Bobby Zalud followed with a single and MacNabb walked to load the bases. DeNato got Phillip Evans swinging on a full-count pitch. Will Swanner worked the count full before DeNato missed badly for a walk.

  "Both pitchers did exactly what we expected." said Torrey Pines coach Matt Chess. "Joey gave us everything he had, and Max was real good. People had questioned if we were that good. Well, we went toe-to-toe with the best team in the county and took it to the final strike. This was a great game, a lot of un. Honestly, it would have been more fun had we won, but I think it would have been a privilege to sit in the stands and watch this one."

   MacNabb gave up Sabourin's two-run homer in the fourth and DeNato slapped a single through a drawn-in infield to score a runner who had reached on a strike out and wild pitch. MacNabb retired the last eight Falcons he faced.