Junior Tyler Adkinson, who had fantastic freshman and sophomore seasons with the Centaur varsity baseball team, has transferred to premier all-around sports school Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana. But the loss of the valuable Culver City High School pitcher has not dimmed the prospects of Coach Rick Prieto’s squad, as a fresh corps of outstanding pitchers in the rotation are showing their skills this summer.
“We’re going to keep working hard. We dealt well with adversity throughout this past season,” Prieto said.
Culver City High School leads the South Bay Summer Baseball League North Division with a 7-5-1 record after a recent 2-1 victory in Culver City.
The Centaurs had fine pitching by all three of its pitchers in starter Jay Steiner and relievers Patrick Warfel and Adrian Perez. Steiner pitched three scoreless innings and allowed just one hit. Warfel allowed just one run and two hits in his three innings and Perez got the save with one scoreless inning.
Culver City’s win over the Sea Kings came after losses to Redondo and the Mustangs earlier in the week.
At Mira Costa the prior week, the Centaurs were throttled by the Mustangs, 9-1. At Redondo a day earlier, the Sea Hawks rolled over the Centaurs, 10-4.
Mira Costa fields 10 players who were involved with the Manhattan Beach Senior Little League team that finished third in the World Series last summer in Bangor, Maine. The Mustangs clinched the West with a 13-1 mark, the best record in the entire league. Its only loss was to the Los Angeles Harbor College incoming freshmen team.
Junior Jim Stewart hit a solo home run for the Centaurs in their loss to Redondo. Incoming freshman Steiner drove in a run with a single in the seventh.
Culver City High’s baseball team moved ahead in the South Bay Summer League Northern Division two weeks earlier after edging Torrance, 4-3, but dropping a close one to the Saxons, 3-2.
In non-league action, right fielder George Aceves, utility player Brian Ibarra and center fielder/pitcher Pablo Saucedo played in the South Bay Summer All-Star Baseball Classic at Marine Park in Manhattan Beach. All played for Team A, which battled to a 4-4 tie with the B squad.
Neither team was able to get a hit. Saucedo pitched two scoreless innings.
Culver City has good depth in its pitching behind seniors Ibarra, Saucedo, Jacob Elliott and Mario Fragoso. Junior Timothy Stewart is also expected to do well, according to Prieto.
On offense, the Centaurs have been led by Aceves, Elliott, catcher Jon Gocker and Ibarra.
