The San Diego Section baseball playoff seeding committee will release this year’s playoff pairings no later than 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 21. Who will get the top seeds in the six divisions? Which teams will make the cut? Which teams will not?
We don’t have long to find out.
Sweetwater High School’s baseball team is high on expectation for this year’s playoff seeding. The Red Devils ended regular season play with a 1-0 Metro-Pacific League loss at Chula Vista on Thursday.
Sweetwater had entered the game with the No. 1 power ranking among the section’s Division IV schools, and the loss dropped the Devils to fourth in the rankings behind No. 1 Sage Creek, No. 2 Bishop’s and No. 3 Clairemont.
Actual seeding will be based on head-to-head results, with teams having the ability to jump over those they had beaten in regular season play.
Will the Red Devils or any of the other three teams in the group of top four teams get the No. 1 seed? It could make a difference in the latter stages of the playoffs.
The top two seeds will be placed in opposing double-elimination brackets and would not meet until the division championship game June 4 at UC San Diego. Thus, a No. 2 seed would be just as beneficial as would a No. 1 seed.
But the third or fourth seeds would have to play semifinal games at higher seeded opponents, should they remain in the playoffs.
Post-season play starts Tuesday, May 24, in most divisions.
“We’re hoping this loss doesn’t hurt us too much in the power rankings,” SuHi head coach Paul Wapnowski explained. “If we can get the No. 1 seed, we’ll have a lot of home games. With the wind blowing in (to hinder home run blasts over the outfield fence), it gives us a big home-field advantage. We play well at home.”
If Sweetwater doesn’t get the No. 1 seed, the Red Devils will have to make the best with what they get and hope for some upsets to maintain home-field advantage through the playoffs.
Regardless, Wapnowski said his team is confident heading into postseason play.
“We lost in the semis to Bishop’s last year, and we have more experience this year,” the SuHi coach explained. “Bishop’s is right there among the top four teams this season. We ready for some redemption without a doubt this year. We have the ability to go far in the playoffs. Pitching-wise, we have a lot of arms.”
The Devils finished 20-13 last year and can surpass those numbers with a good showing in this year’s playoffs.
“We won 20 games last year for the first time I can remember,” said Wapnowski, a SuHi alumnus. “I think we have the most regular season wins I can remember in the last 10-plus years. We have a good group this year. We have a group of (eight) seniors who have been playing together since they were freshmen.”
That experience has paid dividends this spring. The Devils won their division in the annual Lions tournament for the first time since 2008. They finished the season with wins in nine of their last 13 games, including a 3-3 showing in league play.
“We got a little luck in the Lions tournament and then went on a run,” Wapnowski said.
“We have strong pitching and we play solid defense; we just have to scratch for runs.”
The strong SuHi pitching staff includes Ryan Galuz, Isaac Piche, Memo Espinoza and Justin Meza.
Piche has spun a 1.54 ERA in seven game appearances while Galuz has a 3.10 ERA in 11 game appearances and Espinoza has a 3.12 ERA in 12 game appearances. Overall, the Devils possess a 3.02 team ERA
Piche rotates with catcher Sal Rosales for defensive strength while right fielder Abraham Gonzalez and Piche have provided the fireworks in the hitting department.
Wapnowski tabs Piche as the team’s overall top player.
Piche leads the team with a .351 hitting average, is tied for the team lead with three doubles and leads the team with three triples, 10 stolen bases and14 runs scored. He ranks second on the team with 10 RBI.
Meza leads the team with 11 RBI while Gonzalez leads the team with 28 hits and ranks second with nine stolen bases.
As a team, the National City bunch is hitting .245 with just one home run. But the SuHi group has 53 stolen bases, proving they can make things happen when they do get men on base.
As for how the rest of the season could play out?
Sweetwater is steeped in football tradition but the school’s baseball team has yet to win a CIF title. It’s said there’s a first for everything.
Metro-Pacific League
Games have been close in Metro-Pacific League play. On Tuesday, Sweetwater outlasted visiting Chula Vista, 2-1, in 14 innings. The prior week, the Devils swept Castle Park by scores of 3-2 and 4-3.
Sweetwater opened league play with 4-2 and 5-2 losses to eventual league champion Hilltop.
Chula Vista (10-18 overall, 1-5 in league) lost one league game each to Castle Park and Hilltop by two runs while playing a pair of one-run contests against Sweetwater.
The Spartans got off to a slow start, caught fire in the John Baumgarten/Metro Conference tournament with a runner-up finish to Eastlake, then has been up and down the rest of the season.
CVHS head coach Jim Westlund is hoping his team can finish on the upswing should the Spartans get into the playoffs.
“I am hoping this win over Sweetwater is enough to get us into the playoffs,” said Westlund, whose team finished ninth overall in the regular season Division IV power rankings. “It’s been a learning experience for us throughout the season, and we’re still learning.”
Javier Gomez tamed the Devils on Thursday with a complete game five-hit shutout while striking out six Suhi batters in the game. It was his third shutout this season. He finished regular season play with a winning record on the mound.
The Spartans scored their only run in the first inning as Amador Medina scored on a sacrifice fly by Rafael Iribe.
Hilltop, which officially clinched this year’s league title with a 17-4 win at Castle Park on Tuesday, finished 6-0 in league play by defeating the visiting Trojans, 6-5, on Thursday.
Metro-South Bay League
Montgomery finished 6-0 in league play to win this year’s league championship. The Aztecs are 17-12 and sit No. 10 in the Division II power rankings.
Montgomery swept Southwest by scores of 13-0 and 11-0 to close out league play this week.
Hector Amador leads the Aztecs with a .412 hitting average, followed by Carlos Jimenez (.351), Rigo Duarte (.324), Jorge A. Martinez (.321), Antonio Torres (.319), Jorge Martinez (.305) and Reyes Murillo (.278).
Jorge Martinez leads the team with 20 RBI while Jorge A. Martinez has 18 RBI, followed by Murillo and Torres with 17 each.
Murillo leads the team with 21 runs scored while Jorge Martinez leads the team with nine doubles.
Top pitchers include Ernesto Aguilar (5-3 with a 1.25 ERA), Jose Cerda (5-2 with a 1.45 ERA) and Jorge Martinez (4-3 with a 1.55 ERA). Cerda has 48 strikeouts in 48.1 innings pitched while Jorge Martinez has 40 strikeouts in 49.2 innings and Aguilar has 31 strikeouts in 44.2 innings.
Metro-Mesa League
Eastlake finished 8-0 in league play, 26-3 overall, but dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 in the Division I power rankings. Presumably, the Titans will be included in the Elite Eight Open Division playoffs with currently No. 1-ranked La Costa Canyon, No. 2-ranked Ranch Bernardo and No. 3-ranked Cathedral Catholic.
It’s a potent mix among those top four teams. Rancho Bernardo defeated Eastlake, 13-2, early in the season but the Titans have since been on a tear. Eastlake enters post-season play riding an imposing 20-game winning streak.
Top performers this season for the Titans include Casey Schmitt with a 0.487 hitting average, followed by Ben Ramirez with a 0.415 hitting average, catcher Bryan Reyes ith a 0.397 hitting average and Julian Escobedo with a 0.351 hitting average.
Heading into Thursday’s regular season finale, Escobedo lead the team with 29 RBI.
Schmitt entered Thursday’s game against Mater Dei Catholic with seven home runs, 19 RBI, 33 runs scored, a 0.619 on-base percentage and 0.961 slugging percentage.
Ramirez entered Thursday’s game with five doubles, one triple, one home run, 21 RBI and 22 runs scored to go with a 0.431 on-base percentage and 0.521 slugging percentage.
Escobedo had collected nine doubles, one triple, three home runs and scored 35 runs to go with a 0.462 on-base percentage and 0.564 slugging percentage. He is also 8-0 on the mound with a 1.42 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 49 innings.
Sophomores Micah Pietila-Wiggs and Grant Holman – both off the 2013 Eastlake Little League United State champion Little League World Series team — have proven big contributors this spring.
Holman is hitting .385 with 11 RBI, a 8-0 record on the hill with a 1.52 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 40.2 innings.
Pietila-Wiggs is hitting 0.378 with four home runs, eight doubles, one triple, 22 RBI and 25 runs scored to go with a 0.446 on-base percentage and 0.622 slugging percentage.
Another contributor has been Brian Leonhardt with a 5-2 pitching record, 1.63 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 34.1 innings.
The Titans are hitting 0.361 as a team and possess a 2.18 team ERA.
