The San Diego Section baseball playoffs are slated to start May 14. That leaves some teams in the Metro Conference with as few as two or as many as four games left in regular season play.
Thus, the race for precious rankings points is expected to speed up in the next two weeks.
The Chula Vista Spartans defeated the visiting Mt. Miguel Matadors, 13-0, on Tuesday in non-league play. The result exemplifies the disparity in the section’s divisional rankings.
The Spartans are ranked 17th out of 19 teams in the Division II tier with a 10-16 overall record. The top 12 teams make the playoff cut.
The Matadors are ranked fifth out of 22 teams in the Division V tier with a 7-17 overall record.
Yet, if one is to believe Tuesday’s game, a 13-run gap separates the teams. Mt. Miguel seems a safe bet to qualify for post-season play.
A playoff berth for Chula Vista is less certain.
“At this time of the year we just need to keep playing hard, and we’re doing it,” explained Spartan head coach Jim Westlund, whose team is two years removed from winning the Division IV championship. “I don’t know how we’re going to end up (in the rankings). The math formula is pretty complicated.
“But I’m proud we’re playing hard to the end, playing hard every inning and hard to every out.”
The MaxPreps.com rankings algorithm is updated every Tuesday and Friday for baseball teams.
Entering the week, Classical Academy (21-4) was ranked first among Division II teams, followed by No. 2 Point Loma (20-4-2), No. 3 Sage Creek (21-4) and No. 4 Santa Fe Christian (17-8).
Bonita Vista (13-10) was ranked fifth in the division while Mesa League rivals Otay Ranch (13-12-1) was ranked 10th and Montgomery (9-14) was ranked 13th.
Eastlake, the top-ranked team in the section at 19-4-1, leads the Mesa League standings with a 9-0 record while Bonita Vista and Hilltop (13-11 overall) are tied with 5-4 records. Otay Ranch is 4-5. Montgomery is 4-7 in league play, followed by San Ysidro at 3-6 and Chula Vista at 3-7.
Chula Vista split its latest Mesa League series with Otay Ranch, dropping a 5-0 decision to the visiting Mustangs on April 24 while recording a 5-2 road win last Friday.
The Spartans received RBIs from five players: Luis Campos, Jorge Lucero, Antonio Garcia, Erick Ordonez and Cesar Rodriguez. Albert Munoz pitched a complete game, scattering nine hits while striking out five batters and walking one.
“That was a big win for us,” Westlund noted.
The victory against the Mustangs as well as a semifinal playoff showing in the annual San Diego Lions tournament have upped the team’s rankings points but perhaps not enough to earn a playoff berth.
Westlund figures it will take a .500 record to make the playoffs. However, Chula Vista has just two regular season games left on its schedule: May 6 at Bonita Vista and May 8 at home against the Barons on Senior Day.
Still, the Spartans are giving it their best effort.
Brian Rivera hurled five innings on Tuesday, allowing one hit while striking out six Matadors. Campos pitched two innings in relief, allowing one hit while striking out three batters.
“We were very close to a lot of the other Mesa League teams until we lost our top two pitchers — Antonio Garcia and Lucero — to injuries,” Westlund noted. “Brian Rivera has been a blessing. Whenever we’ve needed him, he’s helped us out. He’s been outstanding.”
The hosts poured across nine runs in the bottom of the second inning against Mt. Miguel starter Nico Camacho, added a single run in the next frame and tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning.
Munoz went three-for-four at the plate with three RBI and two runs scored while Emiliano Gomez and Campos each drove in two runs and also scored two runs apiece.
The Spartans collected 10 hits in the win. Garcia, playing right field, went two-for-four with one run scored and one RBI.
Chula Vista batted around in the second inning. Munoz delivered the big blast with a two-RBI double to make the score 8-0.
Munoz had two hits in the inning.
The Spartans’ reward for winning the Division IV championship was to get bumped up to the Division III tier the next season rather than have a chance to defend their CIF title.
After posting a 16-16 record last season, including a 1-2 showing in the playoffs, Chula Vista somehow received a bump up to the Division II tier this year.
It’s obvious the section’s ranking system continues to carry its share of quirks.
Hear them roar
Chula Vista won its opening three games in the Lions tournament, played April 15-18, by defeating Imperial (7-4), Mission Vista (5-3) and West Hills (12-1) to win its pool and secure a berth in the Division 4A semifinals.
The Spartans came up one run short in the semifinals against San Dieguito Academy, which lost, 9-2, in the tournament championship game to Classical Academy.
“That was a lot of fun,” Westlund said in regard to his team’s 3-1 showing in the annual gathering of some of the top high school teams in the nation. “We turned it around by winning three games in a row to get to the semifinals. I thought we played well. The kids had fun.”
Lucero and Munoz each drove in two runs in the win over Imperial while Rivera and Gomez combined for the win on the hill.
“We beat Imperial – they were the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year,” Westlund said. “We had that game circled all year.”
Campos had two RBI in the win over Mission Vista while Munoz pitched a complete game, scattering six hits.
Chula Vista rapped out 11 hits in the win over West Hills. Munoz, Gomez, Randy Acosta, Garcia and Rodriguez each drove in two runs while freshmen Pedro Fred and Rafael Navarro combined to pitch a five-hitter.
San Dieguito Academy rolled across three runs in the first inning in the semifinal game. The Spartans chipped away with two runs in the third inning but could not get any closer on the scoreboard.
Campos drove in both runs. Rivera started the game on the mound and was relieved by Ordonez.
Entering the week, Campos led Chula Vista with a .362 hitting average, followed at the plate by Munoz (.307) and Garcia (.293). Munoz led the team with 17 RBI.
Mt. Miguel qualified for the Lions tournament semifinals with a 2-1 pool record but dropped its 5A Division match-up against Southwest by a score of 10-1.
Mesa League Standings
(Through May 1)
Eastlake Titans 9-0, 19-4-1
Bonita Vista Barons 5-4, 14-10
Hilltop Lancers 5-4, 13-11
Otay Ranch Mustangs 4-5, 13-13-1
Montgomery Aztecs 4-7, 9-15
San Ysidro Cougars 3-6, 10-14-1
Chula Vista Spartans 3-7, 10-16
South Bay League Standings
(Through May 1)
Sweetwater Red Devils 5-2, 11-12
Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders 4-2, 11-13
Olympian Eagles 4-2, 14-8
Southwest Raiders 4-3, 20-8
Mar Vista Mariners 2-5, 11-13
Castle Park Trojans 1-6, 9-14
Raiders score Lions tournament title; race to finish for league banner
The Southwest High School baseball team started the season on fire with an 11-3 record, then lost four consecutive games before getting hot again.
The Raiders won all five of their games in the 69th annual San Diego Lions tournament to win the 3A Division championship, defeating Tri-City Christian, 9-1, in the championship game.
The Lions tournament, considered the most competitive regular season tournament in the region, took place April 15-18 at various venues around the county.
Southwest defeated Grass valley Nevada Union (5-0), Sacramento Capital Christian (6-5 in eight innings) and Alaska’s Eagle River (12-0) to finish 3-0 in pool play.
The Raiders defeated Mt. Miguel, 10-1, in the semifinals to draw TCC in the final.
“Winning this tournament puts Southwest baseball on the map,” coach Dallas Fialkowski said. “For years the baseball team at Southwest has struggled to have a solid program and it is evident with this victory we are progressing to compete in the South Bay.”
In fact, the Raiders extended their win streak to eight games by defeating visiting Sweetwater, 5-4, in a South Bay League match-up on April 24.
The host Red Devils blanked Southwest, 2-0, two days later.
But the race for this year’s league banner appears far from over.
The Raiders improved to 20-8 overall, 4-3 in league, after topping visiting Mar Vista, 5-1, on Wednesday to pull one game in the loss column behind front-running Sweetwater (5-2 in league, 11-12 overall).
Mater Dei Catholic and Olympian are tied for second place in the league standings with 4-2 records, with Southwest one-half game behind.
On top
Jorge Martinez hurled a complete game five-hitter in the Lions tournament championship game, allowing one run while striking out six batters.
Carlos Gonzalez went two-for-two with two runs scored, Aldo Canedo went one-for-two with two runs scored, Diego Corrales went two-for-four with two runs scored and one RBI while Adrian Sanchez went one-for-three with one run scored and one RBI.
Southwest out-hit TCC 10-5, with the Eagles committing three errors. The Raiders poured five runs across the plate in the second inning to take an early 6-0 lead.
Southwest out-scored its five Lions tournament opponents 42-7.
On the mound, Sanchez threw 10 innings with a .000 ERA while Enrique Canedo threw seven innings with a .000 ERA.
Sanchez hit .529 with seven singles, one double, one triple and eight RBI while Aldo Canedo hit .429 with five singles, one double and three RBI. Dominic Escobar hit .417 with five singles and eight RBI while Arian Tirado hit .400 with three singles, one double and two RBI.
Fialkowski singled out Diego Ruiz, Aldo Canedo and Raul Bojorquez for notable defensive play in the tournament.
Horse power
Otay Ranch advanced to the Lions tournament Premier Division championship game, losing 4-0 to Thousand Oaks after defeating Pacific Palisades (12-11), Madison (10-9 in eight innings) and Arizona’s Vista Grande (4-2) in pool play and topping Mission Hills (5-3) in the semifinals.
Mustang senior Noel Perez opened the tournament going nine-for-nine. He went five-for-five in the opener against Palisades and four-for-four in the win over Madison.
