LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

Story from North County Times; By John Maffei:

"Andrew Hinkle loves to hit and pitch.  Saturday night, in the CIF San Diego Section Division II baseball championship game, the La Costa Canyon High senior came through in the field and at the plate. He threw five scoreless innings in relief and drove in the winning run as the Mavericks edged Rancho Bernardo 7-6 in 10 innings at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

"It's great to come through," said Hinkle, who started the game at third base, then came on in relief in the sixth inning. "I can't explain the feeling. As a senior, this is the greatest."

Top-seeded Rancho Bernardo staked starter Parker Bugg to a lead in the first inning, when Preston Sands scored on a wild pitch and Matt Jervis knocked in two runs with a bases-loaded single that hit the third base bag.

The Broncos added a run in the second when leadoff man Gosuke Katoh walked, stole second, and scored from there on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.

"I didn't like that at all," said LCC first baseman Brandon Miller, who had three hits and scored three times, including the winning run on Hinkle's single to left in the top of the 10th. "Honestly, I thought it could be over, but this team knows how to recover."

La Costa Canyon drew even in the fifth. Miller opened the inning with a single. With one out, Hinkle ---- who is headed to UC San Diego as a pitcher ---- walked and Zach Armstrong singled in Miller. Danny Martin then launched a hanging breaking ball deep over the left-field fence for a three-run homer to tie the game at 4-4.

Rancho Bernardo took the lead back in the bottom of the inning when Brandon Bentson led off with a triple into the left-field corner. Sands drew a one-out walk and went to second on a wild pitch, with Bentson holding at third.

Jervis then hit a ground ball to the second baseman, who threw wildly to the plate as Bentson and Sands both scored.

La Costa Canyon came right back to tie the game in the sixth. Anthony Balderas slugged a one-out homer, his second home run of the season to get the Mavericks within one. Miller followed with a single, and Colin Winter walked. With two outs, Armstrong singled in Miller to tie the game. Pinch-hitter Evan Schreiber beat out an infield hit to load the bases, and Martin worked the count before grounding out.

Rancho Bernardo got the leadoff runner on in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Hinkle got a groundout and two popups to get out of trouble in the seventh. He picked a runner off first in the eighth and got a double-play ball in the ninth.

Rancho Bernardo coach Sam Blalock was looking for his 10th section title, but this one slipped away.

"We had our opportunities; we just couldn't cash them in," Blalock said. "You have to give a lot of credit to them. They're a good ballclub, and they played better than us today. It was two teams battling it out, and any time you get to the finals, you're going to see a mistake here and there. There was only one error in 10 innings, so both teams played well.

"They got their opportune hits. They had that little streak there where they hit the three-run homer and another solo homer. You tip your cap to them. They did real well. In the end, they pulled through. When they got the four runs, that took a lot of wind out of our sails."

Both coaches agreed that this was an edge-of-the-seat game.

"That was so nerve-wracking," LCC coach Justin Machado said. "We're not a home-run-hitting team, so to get (two) was a little surprising. This was our fifth extra-inning game of the season, so we have experience. We're scrappers. Hinkle has been clutch for us all season, but he couldn't have done it without Drew Krassny giving us a great effort on Tuesday. That meant we didn't have to play Thursday, so Hinkle was pitching on full rest.

"So when you say a win like this was a total team effort, it's true. Even the guys that didn't play contributed."