Baseball Game Preview: Costa Mesa Mustangs vs. West Warriors

The Costa Mesa Mustangs will be taking part in a tournament against the West Warriors at 11:00 a.m. on Monday. The timing is sure in Costa Mesa's favor as the team sits on four straight wins at home while West has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.

It looked like the Kentucky Derby when Costa Mesa faced off against Covina on Saturday. The Mustangs put the hurt on the Colts with a sharp 10-1 win. Costa Mesa's victory was all the more impressive since the Colts were averaging only 3.29 runs allowed on the season.

Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but West ultimately got the result they hoped for on Saturday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-3 win over Peninsula.

Reef Sharman made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He struck out ten batters over six innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off six hits (and only one walk). West is 2-1 when Sharman posts ten or more strikeouts, but 4-8 otherwise. Sharman was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one triple and one run. That triple was his first of the season.

Sharman wasn't the only one making solid contact as six players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Tad Tiomico, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI. That's the most hits Tiomico has posted since back in April of 2024.

West hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Peninsula struck out 11 times.

Costa Mesa has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for West, their win bumped their record up to 6-9.

Costa Mesa suffered a grim 9-2 defeat to West when the teams last played back in April of 2016. Can the Mustangs avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.