LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

San Diego Union Tribune Newspaper

By Bill Dickens

  " EL CAJON - Max MacNabb's impact on the La Costa Canyon High baseball team figured to be a year away.  Up until a week ago, the sophomore left-hander had pitched only 10 innings.  Most of that came during early-season tournaments.

  "Max pitched in our last series against Mt. Carmel, and we just saw something that we liked," Mavericks coach Justin Machado said.

  MacNabb got the starting nod in yesterday's first round of the section Division I playoffs at Granite Hills.  He showed the second-seeded Eagles plenty they diddn't like as La Costa Canyon pulled out a 3-1 victory.  "Max had a lot of confidence in his off-speed pitches," Machado said.

  MacNabb showcased his fasball and frustrated the Eagles(21-0) withc curves and sliders.  "They're a fastball-hitting team, so my game plan was to go with my curveball more," said MacNabb (3-3). "And they couldn't hit it." 

  MacNabb permitted just six hits - five them singles - during his 6.33 innings.  He struck out five and walked two.  "About 75 percent of my pitches were breaking balls," MacNabb said. "My curveball is a 12 to 6, more loopy.  My slider has more of a tight break, and I'll throw it backdoor to a righty, try to catch the outside edge."

  That combination has baffled the Eagles, who have lost four of their last five.  "We've just stopped hitting," Granite Hills coach James Davis said.  "We had our chances in this game but seemed to come up a hit short from breaking things open."

  Part of that was due to La Costa Canyon's sterling defense.  Not only were the Mavericks error-free, they robbed the Eagles of hits and as many as two runs.  Argueably the fielding gem of the day belonged to LCC's Garrett Smith.  The senior second basemen made a sprawling stop to rob Jared Hunt of a base hit and Granite Hills of a run in the fourth inning.  "Since (Hunt) is righty, I knew the ball was going to spin back toward me," Smith said. "the main thing is I didn't want it to go under my glove.  Once I got it, I went up on my back knee and kind of side-armed the ball to first base."

  That emotional lift carred over to the top of the fifth when the Mavericks (20-12) did all of their scoring.  Smith provided the spark with a lead single and a steal of second base.  He scored on Mitch Tybroski's fly ball.  Brandyn Delgado capped the inning with a two run double.

  Granite Hills scored its run on a Brian Humphries single in the bottom of the fifth."

End of newspaper article