CASTROVILLE — Three wins in four days last week helped the King City Mustangs improve their overall record to 14-7. King City won a Mission Trail Athletic League game Marina 14-0, and beat the Alisal Trojans 3-2, and the North Monterey County Condors 8-7 in non-league games.
On Wednesday April 19 in Seaside the Mustangs erupted for 14 runs to down the Marina Mariners. David Ortiz (two hits); Clay Barbree (three hits, two runs batted in, with a homerun); and Tommy Stephens (two hits); led the Mustang hitting attack. John Serrano earned the pitching with five-innings of work with help in the late innings by Aiden Guzman.
Last Thursday at Hartnell College the Mustangs won their second straight game against Alisal with a strong pitching performance by Clay Barbree. The host Trojans jumped out to a 2-0 lead but King City tied the game in the fourth with two runs highlighted with a hit by Jose Arreola and a sacrifice fly ball Cedric Perez.
In the fifth inning the Mustangs scored the winning run as Arreola stole home.
“We are playing good baseball with our pitching and hitting,” said King City head coach Lorenzo Espino. “It is fun to watch our team play and we look forward to the rest of our league games because it is a good league where any team can beat the other.”
On Saturday the Mustang traveled to Castroville to face the North Monterey County Condors. King City raced to a 8-1 lead in the first two innings and help a 8-2 lead up to the bottom of the seventh.
“The game was really not that close,” said Coach Espino. “North County was chipping away a run at a time but we always felt we were in control of the baseball game. Brian Lopez got the win with five innings of work and had five strikeouts and allowed two hits. Jose Arreola pitched well in relief.”
David Ortiz had two extra base hits, with a double and a triple and two RBI’s. Cedric Perez and two hits and two RBI’s, Tommy Stephens had two hits and two RBI’s, and Clay Barbree had one hit and an RBI.
King City returns to Mission Trail Athletic League play this week with a game in San Juan Bautista yesterday against the Anzar Hawks, and will host the Hawks this Friday in King City.
