CULVER CITY — The Long Beach Wilson baseball team was unable to protect a two-run lead and lost to Culver City 4-3 in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs Tuesday.
The Bruins took a 3-1 lead in the top of the second inning and shut down the Centaurs’ bats through the fourth inning. At that point, the Bruins seemed to be in control of the game.
That changed in the fifth and sixth innings.
Wilson gave up three runs to fall behind and was unable to muster a comeback.
“I think at times the nerves got to us a little bit and I tried to remind them that they had to play loose,” Wilson head coach Andy Hall said. “I thought we got off to a pretty good start. We scored the first run, we got a few in the second. I didn’t anticipate us not scoring more than three runs today.”
Culver City will face Kaiser in the Division 5 championship game Friday or Saturday.
Wilson gave up 11 hits and committed four errors.
Long Beach Wilson sophomore Cesar Castro pitched a complete game and struck out six in a 4-3 loss to Culver City in the CIF-SS Division 5 semifinals on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Culver City. (Photo by Cristian Vasquez)
The Bruins’ Cesar Castro pitched a complete game and struck out six as he made 83 pitches.
“The pressure was there, but sometimes you have to take advantage of the pressure,” Castro said of the noise from the Culver City supporters. “It was rough, just everybody getting into their heads a little bit. One person saw another make an error and they got scared, they got nervous.”
The top three batters in Wilson’s lineup – James Mirabile, Nico Thiem and Cooper George – produced seven of the team’s nine hits.
Mirabile scored two of the three runs for the Bruins early in the game.
Culver City found the spark it needed when Luis Najera stole home to cut the lead 3-2 in the fifth.
In the next inning, RBI singles from Vince Ferrier and Saul Sandoval pushed the Centaurs on top by a run, 4-3.
“Hat’s off to Long Beach Wilson,” Culver City head coach Devaughn Wallace said. “They have a great coach, a great program, and we knew that we had to come in here and play some ball today. We preach mental toughness, and it doesn’t matter until it’s over. It’s a testament to what we’ve been working on.”
The Bruins struggled at the plate in the final two innings, as only one of the last seven batters managed a hit.
“The biggest takeaway is we have a great group of kids at Wilson who love to play for each other,” Hall said. “This (game) was a tough pill to swallow, but we’ll swallow it and be ready for next year.”