LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

  The La Costa Canyon Mavericks split their first two games with Vista while Carlsbad swept two games from El Camino to set up next week's big show down for the Avocado West League Championship.  After a Carlsbad forfeit loss to Vista, La Costa Canyon enters the three game series with a one game lead in the league race with a 9-2 league record, while Carlsbad sits at 8-3. One team will emerge from the series in first place.  La Costa Canyon will then end the regular season with one last game with Vista and Carlsbad will finish off against El Camino.

                                        LEAGUE               OVERALL

La Costa Canyon                 8 -  1                  15  -  8

Carlsbad                             7 -  2                  18  -  6

El Camino                           5 -  4                   15  -  8

Vista                                   3 -  6                   13  - 11

Rancho Buena Vista              3 -  6                     9  - 14

Fallbrook                              1 -  8                    8  -  14

  The El Camino Wildcats are enjoying their best baseball season in school history and starting last week they were in a three way tie for first place with LCC and Carlsbad.

   The Mavericks swept Saturday's double header by a score of 7-5, and 6-3 to regain sole possession of first place. Carlsbad (7-2, 18-6) split with Rancho Buena Vista 2-6 and 7-6 to fall one game behind the first place Mavericks (8-1, 15-8). 

    Next up for the Wildcats (5-4, 15-8) is a two game series with Carlsbad.  The Mavericks have two games with Vista before a three game series show down with Carlsbad and one final game against Vista.

    The Maverick's extremely challenging early season schedule now pays off in crunch time with two weeks of the regular season remaining.

 

Other League Scores:

Rancho Buena Vista  6  Carlsbad  2

Carlsbad    7    Rancho Buena Vista  6

Fallbrook   6    Vista  0

Vista    11     Fallbrook  1

 

TEAM                          LEAGUE          OVERALL

La Costa Canyon          6 - 1              13 -  8

Carlsbad                      6 - 1               17 - 5

El Camino                    5 - 2               15 - 6

Vista                           2 - 5               12 - 10

Rancho Buena Vista       2 - 5                8 - 13

Fallbrook                      0 - 7                7 - 13      

U-T SAN DIEGO  By John Maffei

  The rains came overnight, and Rancho Buena Vista High baseball coach Sheldon Watkins asked his players to be at the field two hours before first pitch Saturday. Four hours of a spike drag, raking and five bags of a drying agent later, the Longhorns and La Costa Canyon started their Avocado West League game 90 minutes late.

   It was worth the effort for RBV, which scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to edge LCC 2-1.  "The field was more wet  than we figured," Watkins said. "But neither coach wanted to postpone the game and play four games in a week instead of three. So we made the effort and got the field ready. It was a big win, a win that puts us in a position to make a little bit of a run."

    Scoreless through six innings, league-leading La Costa Canyon (12-8, 5-1) broke through in the top of the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Casper. Gabe Earich, who had worked out of jams all day, was relieved by Mike Benson, who recorded a strike-out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

    LCC  pitcher Scott Souter was cruising through six innings, but Earich singled to open the bottom of the seventh for RBV (8-12,2-4) and he was then sacrificed to second.  Josh Woodard was intentionally walked in what LCC Coach Justin Machado said was a miscommunication.  After a fly out, Brooks Stotler singled to tie the game and Kevin Collard lined the first pitch into the right-field corner for the winner.

    "I've been struggling at the plate, so I needed a big hit there," Collard said. "Id been thinking too much, so I decided if I got a pitch in my zone I was swinging."  Collard said he got an inside fastball. "Thats my third game-winning hit of the season, so the guys are calling me "Mr. Clutch," Collard said.

 

Other Avocado West League Scores:

Carlsbad  5  Fallbrook  1

El Camino  12   Vista  8