By Ava Nicols
Online Editor
Emma Gonosey
Executive Sports Editor
The Costa baseball team defeated the Peninsula Panthers on Wednesday at home, 5-1, where senior pitcher Alex Rohm led the Mustangs to victory. Peninsula gained a lead early in the first inning after a batter was hit and later scored a run on a double. Rohm ended the top of the first inning with a strikeout.
“I was confident in our pitcher Alex,” senior center fielder Robert Love said. “I knew he was going to step up to help us come back and shut them down.”
The game stayed quiet during the first three innings, with the only run on the board being Peninsula’s. The Mustangs were able to come out of the third inning quickly.
“Once you believe that you can come back and get into a rhythm, anything is possible,” Love said. “That’s what happened after the first inning.”
During the bottom of the third inning, the Mustangs started to hit the ball and brought the score to 2-1 with Costa in the lead. Senior left fielder Charlie Webb caught two fly balls, and Love bunted a ball in order to load the bases. Senior first baseman Ben Gneiser hit a pop-up into right field, and senior shortstop Conner Meidroth scored on an overthrow to second base from Peninsula.
“It was pretty fun; we have a really good team, which means good defense behind me,” Rohm said. “[My team] did all the work, so it was easy to throw strikes. You got to know you’re better than the other team, and once things started going our way, we got into a rhythm and just capitalized on that.”
As Costa took the field for the 4th in- ning, they were quickly able to get three outs, but the Mustangs hit into their second double play during the bottom of the fourth, leaving the score at 2-1.
“The wind was blowing out heavy to left [field] today, so we just had the guys kind of shift a little bit [to the left],” Love said. “It wasn’t my best day, but I definitely got the job done, and that’s all that matters. I’m glad we could get enough runs to get a big enough lead and take this win.”
During the bottom of the fifth inning, Costa furthered its lead against Peninsula. Love hit a small dribbler, and Webb scored at the plate, making the score 3-1 Costa. Next, Gneiser hit a line drive to the outfield, and Love scored, resulting in a score of 4-1 with the Mustangs in the lead. The Mustangs scored one final run in the fifth inning, leaving the final score at 5-1.
“Every arm is different,” Webb said. “You have to adjust to the velocity and the speed, but as long as you go up there knowing you want to hit the ball, you’re set. It was our first Bay League game, so it was nice to come out on top and win. We are looking forward to beating them Friday.”
The Mustangs will play away at Penin- sula today at 3 p.m.. After the win 5-1, the team is ready to take another win against the Panthers. According to senior third baseman Max Anderson, the team is confident it will roll them over when facing the Panthers today.
“There is gonna be a lefty on the mound throwing high eighties [this Friday], so we got to make sure we stay on top of the ball there,” said Love. “It’s very windy in Peninsula, so we have to keep the ball on the ground and not let it go up in the air.”
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