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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)<\/p>\nCULVER CITY \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
The Bruins took a 3-1 lead in the top of the second inning and shut down the Centaurs\u2019 bats through the fourth inning. At that point, the Bruins seemed to be in control of the game.<\/p>\n
That changed in the fifth and sixth innings.<\/p>\n
Wilson gave up three runs to fall behind and was unable to muster a comeback.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think at times the nerves got to us a little bit and I tried to remind them that they had to play loose,\u201d Wilson head coach Andy Hall said. \u201cI thought we got off to a pretty good start. We scored the first run, we got a few in the second. I didn\u2019t anticipate us not scoring more than three runs today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Culver City will face Kaiser in the Division 5 championship game Friday or Saturday.<\/p>\n
Wilson gave up 11 hits and committed four errors.<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
The Bruins\u2019 Cesar Castro pitched a complete game and struck out six as he made 83 pitches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pressure was there, but sometimes you have to take advantage of the pressure,\u201d Castro said of the noise from the Culver City supporters. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The top three batters in Wilson\u2019s lineup \u2013 James Mirabile, Nico Thiem and Cooper George \u2013 produced seven of the team\u2019s nine hits.<\/p>\n
Mirabile scored two of the three runs for the Bruins early in the game.<\/p>\n
Culver City found the spark it needed when Luis Najera stole home to cut the lead 3-2 in the fifth.<\/p>\n
In the next inning, RBI singles from Vince Ferrier and Saul Sandoval pushed the Centaurs on top by a run, 4-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cHat\u2019s off to Long Beach Wilson,\u201d Culver City head coach Devaughn Wallace said. \u201cThey 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\u2019t matter until it\u2019s over. It\u2019s a testament to what we\u2019ve been working on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins struggled at the plate in the final two innings, as only one of the last seven batters managed a hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest takeaway is we have a great group of kids at Wilson who love to play for each other,\u201d Hall said. \u201cThis (game) was a tough pill to swallow, but we\u2019ll swallow it and be ready for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
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