The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Before the Wilson baseball team entered the playoffs, there was some quiet optimism as the Bruins entered as the No.3 seed in the CIF-SS Division 5 playoffs.
Week after week the Bruins did what they needed to do in order to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal contest against Culver City.
However, the Bruins weren’t able to overcome some costly miscues as Culver City rallied to defeat Wilson 4-3 at Rick Prieto Field.
“If you had told me two weeks ago on Wednesday that we were going to be a semifinal team, I might not have believed you,” Wilson coach Andy Hall said. “But we turned the corner when the playoffs started. It’s a momentum thing. You win one, then you want to win another one, then another one. All of a sudden, we’re thinking about what’s next if we win this one.”
Senior James Mirabile kickstarted the Bruins offense when he led off with a triple and scored when a Nico Thiem pop fly fell after a couple of Centaurs collided looking to make the catch.
Culver City’s Jordan Espino held Wilson to that one run to limit the damage and strand a runner on base.
Matthew Riesenberg got the Centaurs going with his own lead off double as Culver City started to manufacture some action against Wilson’s Cesar Castro. Another error allowed the Centaurs to tie the game but the Wilson defense held it together and stranded two baserunners.
Wilson kept the momentum going as Penn Peters led off with a double and he scored after James Mirabile hit a line drive that wasn’t caught by the center fielder allowing Peters to score and give the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
Thiem followed that with an RBI single to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead after the top of the second inning. Castro settled in retiring the next nine batters as Wilson held onto their lead heading to the bottom of the fifth inning.
Aaron Carrillo-Munoz led off the bottom of the fifth with a single – the first Centaur single since the first inning. Looking for some speed, Luis Najera came in to pinch run for Carillo-Munoz and he made the most of his time as he scored from third on a dropped third strike after the throw home wasn’t fielded cleanly to make it a 3-2 game after the fifth.
In the sixth, Mirabile hit another single as he went 3-4 on the day, but he was stranded to keep Wilson off the board as the Centaurs brought in Teven Davis in relief. Vince Ferrier tied the game when he put down a sacrifice bunt and Ramos beat the throw home to tie the game 3-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, Nicholas Ramos led off with a double as Culver City started to get their bats going. He eventually moved to third on a fielders’ choice as they looked to tie the game
Saul Sandoval hit the eventual game-winning RBI when he singled to right field that allowed Ferrier to score.
“It’s a short game, and if you don’t play your best game defensively, you put yourself behind the eight ball, Hall said. “I think that’s kind of what happened to us today. Critical errors, and we missed on a couple chances to get guys out at home plate – at least one, maybe two. I just think they maybe out-competed us a little bit, especially in those situations.”
With their final three outs, Wilson went down in order as their season came to an end. Culver City advances to the championship game where they will take on Kaiser.
“Yeah, you know, it’s a special team, man,” Mirabile said of this year’s team. “Even just now in the huddle, we had a bunch of guys come up and say a few words. Everybody here loves each other, and I don’t know if we’ve had that the last couple years. We’ve probably been more talented before, but this year the chemistry was turned all the way up. It’s a special group of guys that was able to come this far and almost get there. Unfortunate, but it was a special season.”
