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Estancia‘s Andrew Mits throws a pitch to Omar Gutierrrez of Costa Mesa Friday. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Estancia High School’s baseball team remained in the hunt for the Orange Coast League title defeating league-leading Costa Mesa 8-0 Friday afternoon at Costa Mesa.
The Eagles were able to trim the Mustangs lead to one game by earning a split of the two-game league series. Costa Mesa (14-4, 7-1) won 12-3 on Tuesday. After Friday’s game, the Costa Mesa players and coaches accepted the Troxel Bell Trophy, awarded to the winner of the series, by one run due to the run differential in the two league games.
The trophy, presented by Costa Mesa United, is named after former Estancia and Costa Mesa coach Paul Troxel.
Senior Andrew Mits delivered with a big-time performance for Estancia (14-4, 6-2) with a two-hit shutout. Mits (7-0) struck out 11 and walked three.
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“It was big for us just to comeback and show the character of our team, Tuesday was real sloppy for us,” said Estancia Coach Nate Goellrich. “Our guys knew it, we had a senior talk on Wednesday about how we want to represent ourselves and our program, Tuesday wasn’t us at all. Whether it was a win or loss, for us to comeback and play on our toes and be the aggressor with the strike zone and the at bats, it was great to see.
“We’re going to try to be the last league champion of this league and we put ourselves in position to still be that and that’s key for us moving forward.”
Estancia, which had 11 hits, exploded for four runs in the third inning off Costa Mesa starter Grady Jackson to take control of the game. Cole Lefebvre, Sawyer Atkinson and Riley Witte had RBI singles and another run scored on a wild pitch. There was also an error in the inning.
Mits had an RBI single in the fourth inning to drive in Jake Humphries, Witte had a two-run single in the sixth and John Uchytil delivered an RBI single in the seventh.
Then it was up to Mits to seal the win.
“My stuff today, I was feeling it, from the first pitch, I painted the outside and I just kept going, I knew I could trust my teammates behind me which gives me a lot more confidence on the mound,” he said.
Mits said the Eagles knew they had to make adjustments.
“We knew when we played them the first time it wasn’t going to be easy,” Mits said. “We had a group discussion at night saying we were going to walk in from the get-go and give them all we got and go from there. We all just came out firing and at the end, we came out on top and it was a good team win.
“After the first game, we were not feeling very good, we sat on our heels the whole game and didn’t make any adjustments. In this game, we turned everything around, we talked to each other, took a deep breath and we came out on top.”
Costa Mesa players accepted the Bell Trophy after the game, but were obviously disappointed about the outcome.
“It is a little bitter sweet,” said Costa Mesa Coach Jim Kiefer. “It ended up being a one-run difference, we’re still proud of how we played. The first two times we played them (including a non-league game at Angel Stadium) and they did a good job today, Mits was good, he does what he does. Hats off to Estancia, they’re a good team.
“We’re up by one with four to go, we have a little bit of a cushion, now we have to take care of business, we control our destiny, that’s a good thing. Aside from today, our pitching and defense has been really good all year. Over the course of the season, you’re going to have some moments like that.”
Troy Simmonds came on in relief of Jackson in third inning and Michael Joyce pitched in the seventh for Estancia.
Witte was 2 for 4 with three RBI to lead Estancia offensively. Mits was 2 for 4 with an RBI, Humphries 1 for 3 with three runs scored and Lefebvre 1 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
