Culver City Baseball Falls One Run Short

In a pitchers' duel that had all the drama and intensity of the playoffs, the Culver City High baseball team was nipped by rival Santa Monica 2-1 Tuesday afternoon in a battle for first place in the Ocean League.

Right-hander Tyler Mark matched Santa Monica lefty Adam Padilla pitch for pitch for seven innings, but in the end the visiting Vikings capitalized on a few mistakes to spoil the Centaurs' Senior Day and take a one-game lead with one to play.

"We could've been ahead by two or three runs in the first inning," Culver City Coach Rick Prieto said. "Tyler Adkison hit one that could've been a three-bagger if it finds the gap, then Rodney Bradley hit a shot to center that goes for nothing... that was the turning point overall."

Indeed, in games between evenly-matched teams it's often the "little" things that determine the outcome. Samo (12-16 overall, 9-0 in league) scored on an error in the top of the first inning, then took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a run-scoring single by David Tyre-Vigil.

Culver City answered back in its half of the fourth when George Aceves singled to score Skylar Blocker to cut the Vikings' lead to 2-1. It was one of only three hits Padilla allowed all game.

The Centaurs threatened to tie it in the sixth when Adkison singled up the middle and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, Ryan Mulvihill was walked intentionally, but Mark grounded to second to end the inning. 

"This game is to make sure that our kids understand that what we do here is just a stepping stone to the bigger challenge, which is the playoffs," Prieto said before the game. "We'd love to be league champs and be guaranteed a home game, but it's also important to build confidence for the playoffs." 

After Mulvihill threw out all three Samo batters on sharp grounders to third in the top of the seventh, Culver City (13-11-1, 8-1) was retired in order in its final at-bat. Aceves lined out to first, Darian Sylvester flied to center and Sean Cogman worked a full count before swinging through a shoulder-high fastball to end the game. 

Prieto now has to hope that history repeats itself... only in reverse. Last season, a similar scenario unfolded except that it was the Centaurs winning the first game on the road before dropping the second at home to settle for being co-champions.

"I gotta believe the script is written that way in 2011," Prieto said. "Just like last year, you had two pitchers who were feeling it. The bottom line is that we have to score runs. It was great defense and timely hitting on both sides, it's just that our hits were right at people."

Culver City needs to win Thursday's rematch at Samohi to gain a share of the league title and Mulvihill is confident his team can do it.

"They just outplayed us today, that's all," he said, wearing the candy necklace given to him after the game as one of the seven seniors on varsity. "Their guy threw a great game. There was nothing we could really do except keep swinging. We're not down, though. We're going after them for sure [Thursday]."