LA COSTA CANYON HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL

  Danny Bethea's Three Run Blast in the top of the 5th inning combined with his defense behind the plate led the Mavericks to another CIF Playoff win and a spot in the Wednesday semi-finals to await the winner of the Tuesday match up between Vista and  Granite Hills.

  Cody Peterson ( 1&2/3rds ), Jake Raffaele( 1& 1/3rd ), Parker Johnson ( 3 innings ) and Tyler Korn( 1.0 ) combined to hold Vista to only three runs on six hits. Grant Jochem had two runs batted in and scored a run ahead of Danny Bethea.  Garrett Smith singled and scored a run in the third inning. Phillip Evans singled to start the two out rally in the 5th and then scored on Grant Jochem's single. The Evans to Smith to Delgado combination turned another 6-4-3 double play and Garrett Smith had two other nice put outs at second. With no outs and two runners on in the bottom of the 7th inning Danny Bethea threw down to second behind the runner and Garrett Smith applied the tag to pick off the Vista runner for the first out of the 7th inning. With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th inning, Tyler Korn reached back to strike out the final two Vista batters to end the game.

 The Mavericks at 21-12 now have two chances to reach the Championship Game Saturday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium as the survivor of the Tuesday elimination game will have to beat the Mavericks both Wednesday and Thursday to reach the Championship Game.

  Eastlake beats Rancho Bernardo 4-2 to advance to the Wednesday Game in the Upper Bracket.  Rancho Bernardo will play Poway on Tuesday in the Loser's Bracket Elimination Game, as Poway eliminated Calexico 8-0.

  Granite Hills beat Patrick Henry 3-1 to earn a spot at home against Vista in the other Tuesday Loser's Bracket Game.  The winner of the Tues. game as the higher seed will host the Wednesday game against La Costa Canyon.

 The Second Round of the CIF Playoff Games were postponed from Friday to Saturday at 11:00 am due to Rain.  La Costa Canyon travels to Vista.

 The Loser Bracket games scheduled for Saturday have been bumped to Tuesday at 3:30pm at the site of the higher seeded team. Admission will be charged at the Tuesday games and the subsequent games.

The fourth round games scheduled for Tuesday have been moved to Wednesday.  The remaining games in the double elimination tournament will be played on Thursday at the higher seed with the finals still set for Saturday at 7:00pm at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

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

  The La Costa Canyon Mavericks won their 2nd CIF Playoff Game for their 20th victory of the 2008 season as they up set the #2 ranked Granite Hills by a score of 3-1.  The Mavericks advance in the Winners Bracket to play the #3 seeded Vista on Friday May 23rd at Vista High Shool. Brando Del Gado notched a 2 rbi double in the 5th inning, and Mitch Tybroski added another run batted in as Garrett Smith scored the first run of the game on Mitch's fly ball.  Max MacNabb went 1 for 3 at the plate and scored a run while he pitched the game of his career, throwing 6.33 innings, allowing  1 run on 6 hits, 2 BB and 5 K's.  Tyler Korn came in to get the last two outs for his record setting 6th save of the year.

 Rancho Bernardo turned the tables on Poway to take a 5-4 win and advance to play at Eastlake in the other winners bracket game.  Calexico will travel to play Poway in one elimination game. Granite Hills will play host to Patrick Henry in the other elimination game.

  The Mavericks 7-4 win over Bonita Vista in Chula Vista earns them a First Round match in the double elimination portion of the CIF Playoffs on Wed. May 21st against the No: 2 seed Granite Hills at Granite Hills in El Cajon.  Win or loose the Mavericks will play again on Friday May 23rd against an opponent to be determined.

  Garrett Hughes got the win and Tyler Korn notched the save.  In the top of the 2nd inning the Mavericks strung together seven straight hits to score six runs as Max MacNabb and Mitch Tybroski each had a two rbi double.

  The other Div. I match ups on Wed. are in the upper bracket;  Rancho Bernardo at #1 Poway; and Calexico at #4 Eastlake.  On Friday the 23rd the two winners play at the higher seed and the two losers face off in an elimination game at the higher seed's field.

  In the lower bracket, in additon to La Costa Canyon playing at # 2 Granite Hills; Patrick Henry is at #3 Vista.  Again, on Friday the 23rd the two winners play at the higher seed field and the two losers face off in an elimination game at the higher seed's field.

  The two games on Saturday the 24th will be at 11:00am (Upper Bracket) and 2:00pm (Lower Bracket) at Hilltop High School.