Mira Costa wins Battle of the Beach
The win over Redondo gives the Mustangs a share of Bay League title
Thatcher Hurd got the starting assignment Tuesday for the Mira Costa baseball team in its game against rival Redondo.
The senior transfer from Northern California was making his first appearance in the Battle of the Beach rivalry, and he could feel the emotion and intensity.
“Fun rivalry, it was a good time. I was revved up for that,” Hurd said. “Lot more people here, which is awesome. We understood they’re a good team, and we didn’t take them lightly at all.”
Hurd looked right at home as he pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowed one run on four hits and struck out 10 as the Mustangs won 4-1 and clinched at least a share of the Bay League title.
The two teams conclude the regular season against each other on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Redondo. With a victory, the Mustangs would win the title outright.
“Super mentally prepared, felt good physically,” Hurd said. “I was anticipating that (start) for a while, so I just want to dominate.”
Even with his strong performance, the Mustangs (16-9, 8-1) still needed help getting the final out, as Hurd was replaced in the top of the seventh inning.
Redondo (12-9, 7-2) had runners on first and third with one out. With two outs, Nico Stanley was summoned to replace Hurd and he got Julien Cojulun to ground out to short to get the save.
“We’ve tried to be a little smart with his pitch (count) this year, he’s gotten up there in a couple of games,” Mira Costa coach Keith Ramsey said of Hurd. “Generally we try to keep it lower for games like this. When we do have a game against a team like Redondo, he feels fresh.”
On the other side of the field, Redondo had Matthrew Dalquist on the mound and he certainly didn’t make things easy for the Mustangs hitters.
Dalquist allowed four runs, two earned, on just six hits. He struck out five.
“He pitched really well for us all season,” Redondo coach Mike Barnhill said of Dalquist. “It’s our guy and their guy. We tip our cap to him (Hurd). He had his stuff, he had us off-balanced, and they took advantage of mistakes.”
The Mustangs opened the scoring in the third inning with Aidan Aguilar’s triple that scored Andrew Hiestand.
In the top of the fifth, Redondo tied the game on Kelso Burke’s single that scored Dalquist, who had led off the inning with a double.
“I wished I had went to my slider there,” Hurd said. “I just tried to get the next guy out.”
The Mustangs bounced back in the bottom half of the inning by scoring three runs, two of which were unearned. Aguilar and Hiestand came up with big hits in the inning for the Mustangs.
“Hiestand is a good option against a guy like Dalquist, because Dalquist is really good when the ball rides up and Hiestand’s got a really flat, on-top swing, so that’s a good matchup for us,” Ramsey said. “And I thought Aguilar was amazing today.
“You get two pitchers like we had today, it’s going to be a low-scoring ballgame, so getting that first one (run) was huge.”
BISHOP MONTGOMERY 8, MARY STAR 3» Andrew Morales set a school record with three doubles, and he drove in five runs to lead the Knights in the Camino Real League win.
Cole Blumenthal went the distance, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out four.
TORRANCE 6, SOUTH TORRANCE 1 » Ricky Ahumada had three hits and walked twice and Diego Luna hit a home run for the Tartars.
Aidan Irvine pitched a complete game, allowed one run on five hits with seven strikeouts.
EL SEGUNDO 4, LAWNDALE 0 » Jake Stolnack pitched a two-hitter with seven strikeouts and Cooper Stolnack hit a home run for the Eagles.