LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

    At the 2008 Maverick Baseball Team Awards Banquet the Individual Player Awards announced by Coach Justin Machado were:

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER     -    D A N N Y   B E T H E A

OUTSTANDING DEFENSIVE PLAYER   -    P H I L L I P   E V A N S

C0 - PITCHERS OF THE YEAR  -   T Y L E R   K O R N   and 

                                                     G A R R E T T   H U G H E S

  The Poway machine used one big inning to leverage an 8-3 win over the young La Costa Canyon Mavericks to win the 2008 CIF Divison I Championship.

  Sophomore Max MacNabb got the start and showed his potential as he was nibbling on the black and struck out two Titans in both the first and second innings.

 The Mavericks threatened in the top of the first inning as Freshmen Phillip Evans singled to left and with two out Junior Grant Jochem singled up the middle. Danny Bethea followed with a sharply hit ball up the middle that the Poway 2nd basemen ranged behind the bag to snag and throw to first for the third out. In the bottom of the first with the bases loaded, Junior Center fielder Mitch Tybroski made a great running catch for the third out.

 In the top of the second inning Garret Smith walked but Sophomore Will Swanner hit into a 4-6 fielders choice.  In the bottom of the second two walks and a throwing error put two runners on with one out, but Max MacNabb struck out the next two Titans to get out of the inning.

In the top of the third the Mavericks scored first as Mitch Tybroski singled, stole second, advanced to third on a ground ball out and scored on a wild pitch on a close play at home.  Phillip Evans hit a 400 ft out that the Poway centerfielder made a nice catch of at the left center field fence.

  In the bottom of the third inning MacNabb induced a ground ball out, Smith to Delgado, yielded a single up the middle, and then got a line drive out to Mitch Tybroski in center field for the second out before two successive walks loaded the bases.  With an 0-2 count on the batter MacNabb let one get away to the back stop to let one run score, and then two successive full count walks allowed another run to score.  The third out came on a soft flair to third basemen Zach Gage.

 In the top of the 4th the Mavericks went down in order on a ground out, an infield pop up and a strike out.  In the bottom of the 4th an infield throwing error, a single to right and another full count walk loaded the bases with no outs. Junior pitcher Parker Johnson entered the game and yielded a ground ball single through the hole on the left side and a sinking flair to left field that Grant Jochem just missed making a great diving catch. Jochem had to leave with a shoulder injury and he was replaced by Junior Ryan Fessel.  Junior Jake Raffaele replaced Johnson and got the first out on a line drive to Fessel, before an error allowed the 4th run of the inning to score.  With the infield drawn in Raffaele got the second out on a ground ball to second where Garrett Smith made a diving stop to knock the ball down and still recovered in time to throw out the runner at first, and then got the final out on a tapper back to the mound. 

 In the top of the 5th Max MacNabb singled to right with one out and Mitch Tybroski walked.  Phillip Evans followed with a booming 2 rbi double to right center but he was thrown out at third on a nice relay by Poway. Senior firstbasemen Brandyn Delgado then grounded out to end the 5th.  In the bottom of the fifth inning Junior Left Hander Garrett Hughes entered the game in relief.  Hughes was the starter in the Wed. semi final game and got the first out on a ground ball to short, walked a batter, and got the second out on a fly ball to MacNabb in right field, before a catcher's interferenc call wiped out the third out, leading to a soft blooper over the second basemen's head that scored two runs. Hughes got the third out on high fly ball to Tybroski in Centerfield.

 In the top of the 6th Danny Bethea singled up the middle with one out, but Zach Gage lined out to right field and Will Swanner lined out to left field.  In the bottom of the 6th Tyler Korn, the senior closer, entered the game in relief for the Mavericks and walked the first batter before getting a ground ball out to Smith at second, a ground ball out to Evans at short and a pop up to Smith at second.

 In the top of the 7th the Mavericks' Matt Lindberg and Matt Grimshaw both grounded out to short and Mitch Tybroski flyed out to left field for the 3rd out.

 The number one ranked Poway Titans finished the season at 31-6, while the Mavericks finished at 22-13, including four losses to Poway.

  The 2008 Maverick Pitching Staff had eight different pitchers notch wins, and set a School Record for the most number of strike outs in one season at 258, but the 2008 Mavericks also set a School Record for the most number of walks in one season at 158.

 La Costa Canyon first year assistant coach Jason Hill returned to the CIF Division I Championship game for the first time since he was the starting short stop for the 1997 Mavericks.  The Mavericks have now reached the CIF Division I Championship Game for the fourth time in their twelve years.

 In 2009 Poway will once again be one of the favorites to win the Palomar League while with the new league alignment, the Mavericks will be one of the preseason picks to win the Avocado league, and both may face a rematch in the CIF Playoffs.

  The La Costa Canyon road warriors win their fourth straight CIF road game in ten innings with a 9-8 win over the #3 ranked Vista Titans to be the first team to reach the Saturday Division I Championship Game at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium.

  In the other semifinal game Poway beat Eastlake 5-2 to force a Thursday afternoon rematch at Poway High School to determine which team will advance to play the Mavericks in the CIF Division I Championship Game.

  LCC's Garrett Hughes started the game and went 5 innings, yielding 7 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks and 5 strike outs.  Tyler Korn picked up the win (5 - 3 - 7) in pitching 4 and 1/3rd innings, while allowing no runs on 3 hits, 1 walk and 2 strike outs.  Brandon Delgado went 2 for 5, 1 R, 2 RBI's and 1 Home Run.  Will Swanner went 3 for 4, with 3 RBI's and 1 2b, and it was his line drive single to right field in the top of the 10th inning that scored Zach Gage with the go ahead run.  Once again Tyler allowed two singles in the bottom of the last inning, but one Vista runner was thrown out trying to steal second, and then Tyler got a strike out and the final out on a pop up to the infield.

  The Mavericks (22-12) advance to the CIF Championship game for the first time since they won back to back CIF Titles in 2003-2004. 

  Vista scores 5 in the top of the first inning and one in the top of the 9th inning to beat Granite Hills in the Loser's Bracket Elimination Game on Tuesday at Granite Hills.  Bobby Orosco pitched all 9 innings for Vista.  As the higher seed, Vista gets to host the semifinal game against La Costa Canyon on Wednesday at 3:30pm.

  Poway eliminates Rancho Bernardo 4-3, and as the higher seed Poway will host Eastlake in the other semifinal game.