A good start ignited Culver City High School’s varsity baseball team, which held on for a 3-2 Ocean League opening victory over Hawthorne last Thursday at Culver City.
The game was a make-up from a rainout of March 22, in which the two teams began league ahead of the others due to the two schools having different spring break weeks.
A game between the two squads slated for March 25 was also rained out, and Culver City will play the other make-up game Friday at Hawthorne.
Most local high schools start league play this week.
Culver City (6-5-1 overall and 1-0 in league) is playing a critical two-game series against rival Beverly Hills. Early last week, the Centaurs hosted the Normans, a team that many observers consider the Ocean League favorite. The Centaurs will visit Beverly Hills today at 3:15 p.m. at La Cienega Park.
After tomorrow’s clash at Hawthorne, the Centaurs’ next league game will be at Inglewood on April 26, at 3:15 p.m.
The Centaurs jumped on Cougar starting pitcher Amador Monarrez with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. It started with walks to Rodney Bradley and Tyler Adkinson, followed by a double from Ryan Mulvihill that brought home Bradley.
Tyler Mark, who was Culver City’s starting and winning pitcher, singled home Adkinson and Mulvihill, and the Centaurs commanded a quick 3-0 lead.
From there, pitching took over for most of the rest of the game as Monarrez settled down, limiting Culver City to just one additional hit the remainder of the contest. That enabled Hawthorne to inch closer to the Centaurs. In the top of the third, after two outs, Monarrez hit a solo-home run over the left field fence, cutting Culver City’s lead, 3-1.
The Cougars got within one in the top of the sixth, when Armando Lira walked, went to third base on a base hit from Fabian Chaidez and scored on a throwing error.
After Centaur relief pitcher Lucas O’Conner struggled early in the sixth inning, he retired Hawthorne batters in order in the seventh to preserve the win for Mark, who had limited Hawthorne to just two hits in five innings.
Each team had only three hits for the game.
“It happens every time,” Culver City head coach Rick Prieto said. “Every time we play Hawthorne, it’s always a battle. We had one again today.”
The host Centaurs shut out Gabrielino from San Gabriel, 4-0, last week in a non-league game.
Winning pitcher Brian Ibarra allowed just one hit in his three innings, and reliever Mario Fragoso pitched four more scoreless innings, giving up three hits in four innings.
Mulvihill had a run-scoring single in the first inning, and Skylar Blocker added an RBI triple in the fourth.
In Redondo Tournament play last Saturday at Harvard-Westlake High in Studio City, Culver City fell to the Wolverines, 7-3.
Bradley sparked the Centaurs’ offense by going 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Mulvihill was 1-for-3 with two RBI.