The Chula Vista High School baseball team is headed where no other Spartan team in the past has gone before — at least in what head coach Jim Westlund refers to as “the modern era” of high school baseball in San Diego County.
A baseball banner from 1954 does hang in the school’s gymnasium. However, the San Diego Section, in which teams now compete, was not formed until 1960.
Prior to that, teams competed in the massive Southern Section that covered most of the populated area of Southern California.
Today, the Southern Section retains its large geographic reach with member schools located in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Mono, Inyo counties, as well as a small part of Kern County.
The top-seeded Spartans made history, in any regard, Tuesday at Bob Kennedy Field by defeating the fourth-seeded Monte Vista Monarchs, 8-4, to earn a berth in Saturday’s San Diego Section Division IV championship game at UC San Diego.
Chula Vista (24-7) will match up against second-seeded Classical Academy (23-8) in the title contest set for a 3:30 p.m. start.
“These guys continue to amaze me,” explained Westlund, who has coached the baseball program at the west side Chula Vista school for the past 25 years. “They make me feel young.”
The Spartans won all three of their preliminary-round playoff games to reach the final.
They used a 13-hit attack on Tuesday to score all eight of their runs in the opening three innings to take command of the game. Chula Vista poured across four runs in the bottom of the first inning and added a pair in each of the next two frames to lead 8-0 behind starter Javier Gomez.
Monte Vista (20-13) rallied with four runs in the top of the fifth inning to halve the score but could not get closer on the scoreboard.
The hosts did receive a scare when the Monarchs loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh inning to bring the potential tying run to the plate.
But reliever Edder Rincon managed to induce a fly out to left field. He then struck out the final batter, Diego Sandoval, to clinch his team’s history-making journey to the CIF finals.
Gomez received credit for the win to improve to 8-0 on the season while Rincon recorded the save, his third of the season. Both players are seniors.
Brian Valenzuela led the Spartans with three RBI in Tuesday’s game while Albert Munoz rapped out two hits and drove in one run. Valenzuela went two-for-four at the plate with one double.
Westlund said the team’s pitching depth is the best he’s seen on the team since he’s been coaching.
Gomez also picked up the win in the team’s 9-2 first-round victory against eighth-seeded Holtville on May 24 while Antonio Garcia got the win in the Spartans’ 3-1 victory against Monte Vista in last Friday’s second round.
Westlund also said the team’s 24 wins is the most in the 25 years he has coached.
This was the second time in the playoffs the Spartans defeated the Monarchs, the fourth time this season (including tournament play) and the fifth time in the calendar year.
“They were a tough opponent,” Westlund said. “We’re lucky to be 5-0 against them in those five games.”
The Spartan head coach also credited the memory of Kennedy, a longtime CVHS baseball icon, as inspiring the team this season. Kennedy passed away last fall at the age of 94. He coached the Spartans for 29 years. The current team dedicated its season to his memory.
“It’s been one of those magical seasons,” Westlund explained. “I know Bobby is looking on. We feel his presence every game. We hope he travels with us to UC San Diego on Saturday.”
Rewind/fast forward
Monte Vista finished third in the Grossmont Valley League standings. The Spring Valley team defeated fifth-seeded Olympian, 5-2, in its playoff opener on May 24. Following the loss to Chula Vista, Monte Vista defeated visiting Olympian, 5-0, in an elimination game last Saturday.
Senior Andrew Gonzales drove in two runs for the Monarchs in Tuesday’s game while senior Francisco Gutierrez and junior Ivan Plazola each picked up one RBI.
Senior Justin Schweizer started for Monte Vista and took the loss after surrendering four runs on six hits in just one third of an inning.
Plazola pitched five-and-one-third innings in relief, allowing an additional four runs on seven hits while striking out three batters.
Classical Academy defeated visiting Mission Vista, 8-1, on Tuesday to earn a berth opposite Chula Vista in Saturday’s division championship game. Dane Kelsey drove in two runs while Ian Peters, Jordan Peterson, Noah Dull, Chase Martinez and Ethan Pillsbury each picked up one RBI.
Martinez pitched a complete game four-hitter, striking out five batters.
Westlund believes his team will be prepared to handle the pressure.
“This group loves to win,” the CVHS coach said. “They handle adversity well. We know they will want to beat us as badly as we want to beat them.”
Titans, Bruins get rude at right time, force double-elimination playoff games
Four South County high school baseball teams entered the week with a chance to qualify for this weekend’s San Diego Section division championships.
One team, the Chula Vista Spartans, punched its ticket directly to Saturday’s Division I championship game at UC San Diego with a victory in Tuesday’s semifinals while another team, the Montgomery Aztecs, were eliminated with a loss in Tuesday’s Division II semifinals.
That left two teams —the Eastlake Titans and High Tech High Chula Vista Bruins — battling to remain alive in the playoffs. Both teams won critical fourth-round games on Tuesday to advance to Thursday’s double-elimination games in their respective divisions.
A win on Thursday would propel either team to Saturday’s division championship game.
Top-seeded Eastlake (30-4) seeks a berth in the Open Division title game pending a win over eighth-seeded Madison (20-11) while sixth-seeded High Tech High Chula Vista (13-12) needs to defeat second-seeded Escondido Charter (17-13-1) to advance to the Division V championship game. Both Thursday contests are slated for 3:30 p.m. starts.
The Division V championship game is scheduled Saturday at noon at UC San Diego.
The Division IV championship game is scheduled Saturday at 3:30 p.m., also at UC San Diego.
The Open Division final is scheduled Saturday at 7 p.m. at the University of San Diego’s Fowler Park.
Should all three local teams advance, it will be a full day of championship baseball for South County fans.
The key for both Eastlake and HTH Chula Vista was winning pivotal elimination games last Friday, Saturday and on Tuesday.
The Mesa League champion Titans, who were unceremoniously relegated to the elimination bracket following a 2-1 opening-round loss to Madison on May 24, eliminated fifth-seeded La Costa Canyon by a score of 3-1 last Friday.
The win over the Mavericks (24-7) advanced Eastlake to an elimination game the next day against fourth-seeded Rancho Bernardo, the team that finished the regular season ranked first among section teams and ranked fourth in the nation.
The Titans, ranked second in the county and fifth in the nation by that same USA Today poll, just seemed to be hitting their stride facing elimination.
After falling behind 6-0 with the end of their season on the line, the Titans rallied for a dramatic 7-6 win to instead eliminate the highly touted Broncos (29-5).
That necessitated a rematch Tuesday against Madison, which had dropped Rancho Bernardo into the elimination bracket with an 8-4 win last Friday. Eastlake needed to win to keep its dream alive of playing for this year’s Open Division championship.
If the Warhawks won Tuesday’s game, they would advance directly to Saturday’s division final.
The Titans won 6-2 to force a double-elimination game with Madison on Thursday, with each team facing elimination from this year’s playoffs.
The task faced in Tuesday’s game was to somehow beat Warhawk ace pitcher Kevin Abel, who had struck out 11 Eastlake batters in the playoff opener for both teams. Abel entered the game undefeated on the season at 10-0.
But having seen him once, the Titans were ready the second time having made some adjustments. Those adjustments included hitting Abel’s fastball for four home runs in the game.
Casey Schmitt slammed two of Abel’s pitches over the fence while Grant Holman and L.J. Jones each hit homers to pace the EHS hitting parade. Holman clubbed his 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the third inning, while Schmitt and Jones hit back-to-back round-trippers in the fifth inning.
Schmitt, who collected three RBI in the contest, also homered in the third inning. Holman, who finished regular season play undefeated on the mound at 8-0, worked five innings with seven strikeouts and seven walks while scattering three hits to pick up the win.
Eastlake head coach Dave Gallegos said that while Holman was a bit off his game, the Titan hurler did his best to keep his team in the game.
The 30-win mark set a new school record.
Eastlake fought to the last out in its elimination game victory against Rancho Bernardo.
Holman started the inspiring comeback with a home run in the fourth inning to make the score 6-1. The Titans pushed across four runs in the fifth inning on a bases-loaded double by Jones and a single by Holman.
Bryan Reyes tied the game, 6-6, on a lead-off home run in the sixth inning.
With the bases loaded, Jones promptly singled in the winning run. Schmitt gave up a leadoff single by RB’s Brock Franks in the top of the seventh inning but retired the next three batters on fly outs to seal the dramatic win.
The Broncos stranded 11 runners on base in the game, including eight in scoring position.
In last Friday’s elimination game against LCC, Ben Ramirez drove in the Titans’ first run while Jones later added a solo home run. Holman also drove in one run in support of winning pitcher Brian Leonhardt (9-0). Schmitt picked up the save.
HTH Chula Vista won its opening two games in the Division V bracket before dropping a 6-5 decision to Escondido Charter in a second-round winners bracket game last Friday.
The Bruins were forced to play an elimination game the following day, which they won by a score of 11-3 over seventh-seeded Julian. That win catapulted the east side Chula Vista team to Tuesday’s rematch with Escondido Charter, which the Bruins won by a score of 6-4 in nine innings.
HTH Chula Vista met the White Tigers for the third time in this year’s playoffs on Thursday, with each team needing to post a victory to advance to Saturday’s division final.
The teams combined for 23 hits in Tuesday’s contest, with the Bruins out-hitting the hosts 13-10.
Alex Gavrilovich, Benjamin Williams, Jamar Mack, Kai Saterstrom and Clayton Huber each drove in runs. Williams and Saterstrom each had three hits in the game.
Ari Martin pitched seven innings to get the win.
HTH Chula Vista athletic director Alan Botterman called the Bruins’ playoff odyssey “a great run.”
“When we got knocked into the loser’s bracket last Friday by Escondido Charter, we couldn’t wait to hear about the results from the Julian-Borrego Springs game,” Botterman said. “A Borrego Springs win would mean driving all the way back out to the desert Saturday morning. We had beaten them in Borrego Springs on Wednesday. Instead, after losing to Borrego Springs twice in the regular season, Julian upset Borrego Springs which meant that lower seed Julian came to us Saturday morning.
“Saturday we were able to beat Julian 11-3. This set up the rematch with the team that put us in the loser’s bracket. We went up to Escondido Charter Tuesday with everything on the line. The game was hard fought, but in the end, we beat them 6-4 in 9 innings.”
Botterman said the team had to rally from adversity to post the win. In the middle innings, a collision between left fielder Austin Hernandez and center fielder Jamar Mack allowed Escondido Charter to grab the lead.
Mack had to be transported to the emergency room by ambulance.
“The team was definitely upset, not knowing how badly their teammate was hurt,” Botterman explained. “I feel this gave them an extra shot of inspiration to come back and win the game for Jamar.”
Hernandez was able to stay in the game and, in fact, closed out the final two innings.
“His great work on the mound and Ben Williams game-winning hit sent us right back up to Escondido Charter for the semifinal game,” Botterman said. “If we win, we will face top-seeded Maranatha Christian in the final on Saturday.”
Martin, a junior, pitched a complete game two-hitter in Borrego Springs on May 24, a 6-0 Bruins victory.
Third-seeded Montgomery won its playoff opener against sixth-seeded Otay Ranch to advance to last Friday’s second-round game at second-seeded Santana. The Grossmont Hills League co-champion Sultans edged the Aztecs, 5-4, to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal game.
Montgomery (18-14) was forced to defeat Otay Ranch (16-15) in an elimination game last Saturday to advance to Tuesday’s rematch with Santana. The Sultans ended the Aztecs’ season with a 2-1 victory.
Santana (22-9) will play top-seeded San Marcos (29-4) in Saturday’s championship game at USD. Start time is 3:30 p.m.
Santana limited Montgomery to three hits on Tuesday while Aztec pitchers Jorge Martinez and Hernan Gomez combined to allow just five hits to the Sultans.
Santana made the most of what it had to end the season for the Otay Ranch school.
The Sultans scored both their runs in the bottom of the first inning; the Aztecs scored their lone run in the top of the second inning.
Martinez, who gave up one earned run, took the loss. He also had one RBI in the game.
San Diego Section Baseball Playoffs
Open Division
Wednesday, May 24
Quarterfinal round
(8) Madison 2, (1) Eastlake 1
(4) Rancho Bernardo 4, (5) La Costa Canyon 2
(6) Torrey Pines 10, (3) Christian 1
(7) Helix 6, (2) Cathedral Catholic 1
Friday, May 26
Second round
(8) Madison 8, (4) Rancho Bernardo 4
(7) Helix 9, (6) Torrey Pines 6
(1) Eastlake 3, (5) La Costa Canyon 1
(2) Cathedral Catholic 4, (3) Christian 0
Saturday, May 27
Third round
(1) Eastlake 7, (4) Rancho Bernardo 6
(2) Cathedral Catholic 3, (6) Torrey Pines 2
Tuesday, May 30
Fourth round
(1) Eastlake 6, (8) Madison 2
(2) Cathedral Catholic 1, (7) Helix 0
Thursday, June 1
Double-elimination round
(1) Eastlake 4, (8) Madison 3
(7) Helix 4, (2) Cathedral Catholic, 0
Saturday, June 3
Championship game
(1) Eastlake (31-4) vs. (7) Helix (22-11), 7 p.m. at University of San Diego
Division I
Tuesday, May 23
Play-in games
(9) Vista defeated (8) Carlsbad
(5) Poway defeated (12) Valhalla
(6) La Jolla Country Day defeated (11) La Jolla
(7) Granite Hills 4, (10) Bonita Vista 3 (9 innings)
Wednesday, May 24
First round
(1) St. Augustine 4, (9) Vista 3
(4) Grossmont 6, (5) Poway 5
(3) Scripps Ranch 7, (6) La Jolla Country Day 0
(7) Granite Hills 5, (2) Francis Parker 2
Friday, May 26
Second round
(4) Grossmont 6, (1) St. Augustine 4
(7) Granite Hills 5, (3) Scripps Ranch 1
(5) Poway 9, (9) Vista 2
(2) Francis Parker 5, (6) La Jolla Country Day 4
Saturday, May 27
Third round
(1) St. Augustine 8, (5) Poway 5
(2) Francis Park 6, (3) Scripps Ranch 1
Tuesday, May 30
Fourth-round
(4) Grossmont 10, (1) St. Augustine 7
(2) Francis Parker 3, (7) Granite Hills 2
Wednesday, May 31
Double-elimination
(2) Francis Parker 3, (7) Granite Hills 2
Friday, June 2
Championship game
(4) Grossmont (18-14) vs. Francis Parker (22-7), 7 p.m. at University of San Diego
Result: Grossmont 8, Francis Parker 3
Division II
Tuesday, May 23
Play-in games
(9) Mission Hills defeated (8) Santa Fe Christian
(5) Point Loma defeated (12) El Camino
(6) Otay Ranch 4, (11) Patrick Henry 0
(10) Steele Canyon defeated (7) Westview
Wednesday, May 24
First round
(1) San Marcos 6, (9) Mission Hills 4
(4) Ramona 15, (5) Point Loma 9
(3) Montgomery 3, (6) Otay Ranch 2
(2) Santana 13, (10) Steele Canyon 0
Friday, May 26
Second round
(1) San Marcos 6, (4) Ramona 4
(2) Santana 5, (3) Montgomery 4
(5) Point Loma 5, (9) Mission Hills 4
(6) Otay Ranch 3, (10) Steele Canyon 2
Saturday, May 27
Third round
(4) Ramona 2, (5) Point Loma 0
(3) Montgomery 2, (6) Otay Ranch 1
Tuesday, May 30
Fourth round
(1) San Marcos (4) Ramona 7
(2) Santana 2, (3) Montgomery 1
Saturday, June 3
Championship game
(1) San Marcos (29-4) vs. (2) Santana (22-9), 3:30 p.m. at USD
Division III
Tuesday, May 23
Play-in games
(9) Hilltop 7, (8) Oceanside 1
(12) Clairemont defeated Bishop’s
(6) Sage Creek defeated Southwest El Centro
(7) Del Norte defeated Calexico
Wednesday, May 24
First round
(1) Serra 7, (9) Hilltop 1
(12) Clairemont 2, (4) Canyon Crest Academy 0
(6) Sage Creek 5, (3) Escondido 0
(2) Brawley 3, (7) Del Norte 2
Friday, May 26
Second round
(1) Serra 4, (12) Clairemont 1
(2) Brawley 5, (6) Sage Creek 3
(4) Canyon Crest Academy 6, (9) Hilltop 4
(3) Escondido 3, (7) Del Norte 0
Saturday, May 27
Third round
(4) Canyon Crest Academy 10, (12) Clairemont 3
(6) Sage Creek 2, (3) Escondido 1
Tuesday, May 30
Fourth-round
(4) Canyon Crest 5, (1) Serra 2
(2) Brawley 1, (6) Sage Creek 0
Wednesday, May 31
Double-elimination
(1) Serra 6, (4) Canyon Crest 3
Friday, June 2
Championship game
(2) Brawley (22-6) vs. Serra(23-10), 3:30 p.m. at University of San Diego
Result: Brawley 2, Serra 0
Division IV
Tuesday, May 23
Play-in games
(8) Holtville defeated (9) Calipatria
(5) Olympian 3, (12) Valley Center 2
(11) Mission Vista 3, (6) Mar Vista 2
(10) Horizon Christian defeated (7) Foothills Christian
Wednesday, May 24
First round
(1) Chula Vista 9, (8) Holtville 2
(4) Monte Vista 5, (5) Olympian 2
(3) Imperial 5, (11) Mission Vista 0
(2) Classical Academy 11, (10) Horizon Christian 1
Friday, May 26
Second round
(1) Chula Vista 3, (4) Monte Vista 1
(2) Classical Academy 1, (3) Imperial 0
(5) Olympian 7, (8) Holtville 3
(11) Mission Vista 6, (10) Horizon Christian 1
Saturday, May 27
Third round
(4) Monte Vista 5, (5) Olympian 0
(11) Mission Vista 2, (3) Imperial 0
Tuesday, May 30
Fourth round
(1) Chula Vista 8, (4) Monte Vista 4
(2) Classical Academy 8, (11) Mission Vista 1
Saturday, June 3
Championship game
(1) Chula Vista (24-7) vs. (2) Classical Academy (23-8), 3:30 p.m. at UC San Diego
Division V
Tuesday, May 23
Play-in games
(8) Lincoln 12, (9) Liberty Charter 0
(5) Southwest 4, (12) Mountain Empire 2
(6) High Tech High Chula Vista 8, (11) Orange Glen 4
(7) Julian 3, (10) El Cajon Valley 2
Wednesday, May 24
First round
(1) Maranatha Christian 2, (8) Lincoln 0
(4) Tri-City Christian 6, (5) Southwest 4
(6) High Tech High Chula Vista 6, (3) Borrego Springs 0
(2) Escondido Charter 6, (7) Julian 0
Friday, May 26
Second round
(1) Maranatha Christian 1, (4) Tri-City Christian 0
(2) Escondido Charter 6, (6) High Tech High Chula Vista 5
(8) Lincoln 4, (5) Southwest 2
(7) Julian 7, (3) Borrego Springs 4
Saturday, May 27
Third round
(6) High Tech High Chula Vis 11, (7) Julian 3
(4) Tri-City Christian 5, (8) Lincoln 4
Tuesday, May 30
Fourth round
(1) Maranatha Christian 6, (4) Tri-City Christian 0
(6) High Tech High Chula Vista 6, (2) Escondido Charter 4 (9 innings)
Thursday, June 1
Double-elimination
(2) Escondido Charter 7, (6) High Tech High Chula Vista 3
Saturday, June 3
Championship game
(1) Maranatha Christian (24-7-1) vs. Escondido Charter (18-13-1), noon at UC San Diego
