Two home runs kept San Marcos within close striking distance on Friday, but the Royals never came up with the knockout punch in a 4-3 loss at Mira Costa in the first round of CIF.
“It was a good battle,” said Royals head coach Rob Crawford, giving credit to the Mustangs for being a much better team than their 16-14 record indicates.
After starting the season 4-11, Mira Costa has won 12 of its last 15 games.
The Mustangs never trailed in this one, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Royals offense was up against Robert Parucha, who had 48 strikeouts in 51 innings heading into the game.
“This guy had to be the hardest thrower we’ve seen all year,” Crawford said.
Riley Moore connected for the first of San Marcos’ homers, blasting his to left-center on a 3-2 curveball. That tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth but the Mustangs posted two unearned runs in the bottom half to regain the lead.
Nick Stathopoulos launched his own round-tripper in the fifth to bring it back to 3-2 before Mira Costa responded again to make it 4-2.
Jimmy Brakka’s RBI single in the sixth inning was the Royals’ final run.
San Marcos finishes its season with a 15-11 record.
MIRA COSTA 4, SAN MARCOS 3
San Marcos 000 111 0 – 3 5 2
Mira Costa 010 210 X – 4 6 0
SM – Kim 3 2/3, Wieland(4), and RMoore. MC Jenkins, (6). 2b – Wieland. HR – RMoore 4th, Stathopoulos 5th
I can’t say enough about their outing
defintely proud of that gourp of seniors for their leadership
played a lot of one-run games.
