Parucha Pitches Mustangs Into First Place

Matched up against the Palos Verdes High ace Lucas Bufano, with his five wins and miniscule 0.38 ERA, Mira Costa right-hander Robert Parucha did not have much margin for error. And he made very few of them on Tuesday in a 3-2 victory over the Sea Kings, which put the Mustangs in sole possession of first place in the Bay League with one game remaining, a return match against Palos Verdes.

"That was a huge win. They have great hitters and I left the ball up a couple times, but had enough stuff working to get the job done," said Parucha, who allowed just six hits while recording five strikeouts in a complete game victory. "I really think that we won this game because of the first inning where we got that first run, it's so big to have a lead and score first against a great team like that."

Shortstop Kyle Demarco started that rally, reaching base after beating out a ground ball, the wide throw going off Palos Verdes first baseman Andrew Messori's glove.  Demarco would get to second on a wild pitch and reached third when Jake Jelmini grounded out. Cleanup hitter Lucas Whitehill then singled with two outs to drive in Demarco, giving the Mustangs and Parucha a 1-0 lead.

"I knew he was going to go with some off-speed pitch that he had been keeping in his back pocket and I just waited on it and drove it," Whitehill said.

In the second inning, the Mustangs would manufacture another run, as Dalton Barge would get a two-out single and then steal second base. Kris Cayton then singled to left field bringing in Barge and the score to 2-0.

Parucha, meanwhile, was cruising through the next two innings, using a good mix of fastballs, change-ups and sliders to mow down the Sea King hitters.

And in the fourth, he got a third run to work with after Bret Collins lead off the the inning with a double to center field. He would reach third on an Anthony Lombardo grounder and score when Bufano was called for a balk.

That run proved to be very important, as the Sea Kings mounted a rally in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Jarrat Rouse tripled for Palos Verdes, driving in Matt Blankenship, who had walked earlier in the inning. A Parucha pitch then hit Cole Trezek and Chad Mensinger would single past the outstretched glove of a diving Jelmini to make the score 3-2, with runners at the corners.

But Parucha would get Messori to fly out to center to end the inning. 

"We came close last year and two times we lost toward the end, I was hoping it wasn't déjà vu," Whitehill said. "We have had lots of close games that have prepared us for this, and that definitely helped today."

Parucha faced a jam in the fifth inning with runners at first and second. He battled Blankenship, who fouled off three pitches including a towering shot that nearly hit the foul pole in left field. Parucha struck out Blankenship, and then intentionally walked Tim Novom and coaxed a fly ball out from Rouse to escape unscathed.

"Robert was awesome, P.V. is great—they don't get enough credit for their hitting and they do all the small things well too," Mira Costa coach Cassidy Olson said.  "This was a huge win for us, it kind of gets us over the hump and now we want to finish out with a win on Thursday."