Wurster Powers Up for Carlsbad

SAN MARCOS — In 15 years of coaching baseball at San Marcos High School, Ron Layton said he had never seen anything like Robert Wurster’s home run.

If it had just cleared the fence in left-center field, 325 feet from home plate, Layton would not have been so impressed. But Wurster’s shot in the third inning was still going when it hit some telephone wires that are about 50 feet above the top of the 7-foot wall.

“That’s a poke,” Layton said. “I’ve never seen anyone hit the telephone wires before.”

Wurster’s two-run home run gave No. 5 Carlsbad a 7-0 lead as the Lancers (18-4, 11-0) defeated San Marcos, 11-8, to clinch the Avocado League title Tuesday at San Marcos High. San Marcos (11-8, 6-5) still has a chance for an at-large berth in the 2-A playoffs if it wins its last three games.

Ask Wurster, and you get the impression that the home run was no big deal. What’s another home run on a team that has won 13 in a row, averages 11.5 runs a game and has scored more than 20 runs twice in the past five games? A team that can make seven errors and still win easily?

“I didn’t think it was gone,” Wurster said. “It felt pretty good. It was a fastball, down in the strike zone. That’s the only pitch I can really hit.”

Wurster was 3 for 4 with a double and 3 runs batted in. This from a guy who bats seventh and has been struggling at the plate.

“Berty (Wurster) has maybe the best swing in the county,” teammate Jeff Myers said. “But he has not been making contact lately. When he makes contact, like you saw today, it goes far.”

Myers has 7 home runs and 44 RBIs, 14 more than next best in the county. He had 3 RBIs Tuesday and had to go 1 for 2 to keep his batting average from dropping below .493.

But Myers said there is no secret to why he and his team are hitting well. Every Carlsbad player takes between 100 and 150 swings every day in the batting cages.

Maybe the Carlsbad defense should spend more time taking infield. Carlsbad had made 11 errors in the past two games.

That hurt Tuesday. Leading 7-1, Carlsbad committed three errors and let a run score on a passed ball as San Marcos got back in the game by scoring four runs on three hits in the fifth inning.

The bats bailed them out in the sixth. Winning pitcher Adrian Lopez (6-0) drove in two runs with a single and scored when San Marcos pitcher Paul Jeffers threw the ball past catcher Marc Villalobos from about 20 feet away for an error.