The high school baseball season still has more than a month to go, including the just announced San Diego Section divisional playoff format.
Playoff dates are June 9-17, culminating with championship games June 18-19. The Southern California regional playoffs follow on June 26.
South County teams should be well represented when the section seeding meeting takes place June 5.
The Eastlake Titans, who entered the week ranked fifth among the section’s Division I teams, defeated neighborhood rival Otay Ranch, 7-3, on Tuesday to improve to 4-0 in Mesa League play, 16-5 overall.
Seniors Ray Cebulski and Ethan Lizama each drove in three runs in Tuesday’s victory. Lizama hit a home run while sophomore Nico Libed doubled. Senior Marcelo Mayer scored three runs in support of Lizama, who scattered three hits in six innings of work on the hill while striking out eight Mustangs.
The Titans opened the season by playing in 15 consecutive tournament games, placing runner-up in the Grossmont-Metro-City Tournament with a 5-4 loss to the second-ranked Grossmont Foothillers.
Eastlake had carried a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning in the tourney final at Granite Hills High School before the Foothillers scratched across two runs to escape with the victory on the strength of Caleb Hommel’s walk-off base hit up the middle.
EHS coach David Gallegos, who recently joined the section’s career 300-win club, noted it was the third time this season his team had fallen to Grossmont in walk-off fashion.
The Titans finished runner-up in the Aztec-Foothiller Classic with a 10-9 loss to Grossmont after leading 8-0 early in the game.
“We’re still figuring out what we need to do,” said Gallegos, whose team captured the 2019 Open Division championship. “We’ve lost some games; we just need to close out games. Once we learn to do that, we’ll be all right.”
Mayer is hitting .417 with 10 home runs, 36 RBI, 14 stolen bases and 32 runs scored while Cebulski is hitting .404 with five doubles, 16 RBI and 16 runs scored.
Lizama is 5-2 on the mound with a 1.34 earned-run average while Cebulski and fellow senior Garrett Beckhelm are both 4-1. Lizama has struck out 54 batters in 36.2 innings while Cebulski has fanned 51 batters in 41.1 innings.
Sophomore Isaiah Lane, Cebulski, senior Bret Leonhardt, Mayer, senior Nico Vallarelli and junior Michael Rocha each drove in one run in a 7-1 win at Granite Hills on April 16.
Mayer, who has signed to attend USC, earned most valuable offensive player in the GMC tournament with three home runs in six games, including a grand slam. He is regarded as a first-round pick in the 2021 Major League Baseball amateur draft.
The Titans are not alone in bidding for postseason success.
Olympian (11-4) improved to 2-0 in South Bay League play following a 15-5 win over Mar Vista on May 7. The Eagles entered the week ranked fourth among the section’s 20 Division III teams — just ahead of fifth-ranked Montgomery (3-3 in Mesa League play, 12-7-1 overall).
The Aztecs defeated Chula Vista, 7-1, on Tuesday in the first of the teams’ two-game series that concludes Friday on the Spartans’ home field.
Mar Vista (12-7) entered the week ranked third among the section’s 19 Division IV teams while Castle Park (4-4) was ranked 14th and Sweetwater (4-10) was ranked 16th in the division.
The Division V final could be an all-South County affair with Calvary Christian Academy (5-2) and High Tech High Chula Vista (6-4) entering the week ranked first and third, respectively, in the division. Bayfront Charter (5-3) entered the week ranked ninth in the division while Ocean View Christian Academy (1-4) was ranked 18th among the division’s 22 teams.
Bonita Vista (10-8) improved to 5-0 in Mesa League play following Tuesday’s 10-3 victory at San Ysidro. Senior Lucas Murrujo led the Barons, who entered the week ranked 16th among the 20 Division I teams, with three RBI.
Otay Ranch (12-9) dropped to 5-1 in league play following the loss to the Titans. The Mustangs entered the week ranked 12th among the 20 Division II teams.
Chula Vista (1-4 in league, 5-12-1 overall), Mater Dei Catholic (2-3 in league, 2-4 overall), Southwest (2-0 in league, 6-7 overall) and Hilltop (0-5 in Mesa League play, 2-16 overall) were ranked 11th through 14th in Division III.
