The Culver City High School baseball team (10-6) will travel to La Habra for high school a doubleheader, starting at 11 o’clock.
The Centaurs 1-1 in the Ocean League while La Habra is 8-7 and 3-2 in league play.
Next home game for Culver City will be Thursday, April 24, in an important league matchup at 3:15 against Hawthorne. The Cougars are currently 8-5-1 and 0-2 in the Ocean League. Both league losses were against Santa Monica.
Culver City and Santa Monica are co-favorites to win the Ocean League.
However, Culver City’s 2-1 loss to Beverly Hills last Thursday proves that the league is better than it was last season. Santa Monica is 12-3 and 2-0 in league play and Beverly Hills is 8-7 and 1-1.
The Centaurs’ loss to Beverly Hills was a major upset after the Culver City had beaten Beverly 14-0 at home last week.
Did the Centaurs look past the Normans after their big win on Tuesday? “We talked about that when we got on the bus,” said Coach Rick Prieto after the loss. “You have to give Beverly Hills credit. Their pitcher did a good job. We outhit them 8 to 7 but their hits counted. Our hits made little difference.”
Beverly Hills coach Vonzie Paysinger was elated. “This was a big win against a quality opponent ,” he said. “Culver City has a good team. Everyone can swing the bat. They play good defense, and their pitching is good. I think they are the team to beat.”
If Culver City is to maintain that status, they need to drive more runners in scoring position. “Without question, it’s key hits that count,” said Prieto. “We had runners in scoring position in the sixth inning with our best hitter, Jay Sterner, at bat. He hits a line drive to the shortstop. If that hit goes through, we score one or two runs. That’s the kind of game it was.”
Leading Centaur hitters are Sterner (.477), Daniel Hennessy (.333) , Kelvin Murillo (.333) and Darian Sylvester (.316). Sterner has a pitching record of 3-0 and Eli Bowie is 3-1.
“We wanted to be 10-0 in the Ocean League,” said Prieto. “Now we have to go 9-1.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
