By Michael Lebbin Staff Writer With only two games left before the CIF playoffs, the Mira Costa baseball team snuck in a tight 6-5 win over Palos Verdes High School on Tuesday. The Mustangs allowed the Sea Kings to take an early 5-0 lead but then came back to score six unanswered runs. In the second inning, the Sea Kings scored two runs off of senior pitcher Greg Whitaker. Costa remained scoreless to give Palos Verdes a 2-0 lead. “We started off shaky in the first two innings,” sophomore catcher Brett Davis said. “Our pitching started off great, but our hitting needed improvement.” In the third, Palos Verdes scored three more runs off Whitaker to increase its lead to 5-0. “During the third inning, I wasn’t sure how the team was going to respond because we were down,” Whitaker said. The Mustangs scored their first run in the fourth inning when junior second baseman Cooper Griffith scored off of a single by sophomore first baseman Trevor Franklin. Sophomore center fielder Reese Alexiades then scored another run off of a single by sophomore shortstop Will Proctor. “We finally got on the board and knew we were coming back,” Proctor said. In the fifth inning, Davis scored with two outs. Costa ended the inning down, 5-4. “It was awesome when I scored because we gained confidence,” Davis said. In the sixth inning, junior outfielder Dylan Tyrer scored Costa’s fifth run, tying the score at 5-5. The Sea Kings still could not manage any more runs. “In the sixth we started to build up momentum,” Tyrer said. “We felt we were about to go on a rally to put this game away.” Alexiades scored Costa’s final run on a sacrifice fly by Tyrer in the seventh inning. “We played really well as a team,” coach Cassidy Olsen said. “We never gave up and rallied at the end to get a win.” Costa played against Redondo yesterday, but the results were unavailable due to the time of publication. “We’re confident in our CIF chances,” Proctor said. “We need to come out stronger and be consistent.”
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