Sweetwater High School baseball coach Paul Wapnowski has a fairly good idea of school history where the sport is concerned, and he can’t think of a time when another Red Devil team advanced to a San Diego Section divisional championship game.
“Sweetwater has never won a section championship in baseball,” he said. “If there was a championship game appearance it was in an era I am not familiar with. I am an alumnus and I’m not aware Sweetwater has ever made a championship game appearance.”
But Wapnowski’s 2016 squad can boast that it did accomplish that by advancing to this year’s San Diego Section Division IV championship game June 4 at UC-San Diego. The fourth-seeded Red Devils dropped a 2-1 contest to the second-seeded Sage Creek Bobcats. But history was made nonetheless, at least as far as Wapnowski can verify.
However, a history-making first CIF baseball championship for the National City school will have to wait for another year.
“This group of kids, especially the seniors, should be proud of what they accomplished in building a winning program at Sweetwater,” Wapnowski explained. “We’ve made the playoffs the last three years and have had back-to-back 20-win seasons. There’s a lot to be proud of — a lot of winning. If you’re a young baseball player in National City, there’s a lot to look forward to.”
The Red Devils got to this year’s division championship game the hard way after defeating the top-seeded Bishops Knights in back-to-back games while facing elimination both times in the section’s double-elimination playoff format.
After dropping a 2-1 decision to the Knights in the second round, Sweetwater met Bishop’s on the Knights’ home field on May 31, winning 5-0 to force a semifinal replay on June 2. The Devils won the semifinal replay, 3-0, to advance to the division championship game.
But the trail ended there for Sweetwater. Sage Creek junior Harrison Humberstone threw a complete game five-hitter in the division final and the Bobcats used two second-inning runs to defeat the Red Devils in a game much closer than indicated on the scoreboard.
The CIF baseball championship was the first for the three-year-old Carlsbad school, which does not yet have a senior class.
“You’ve got to tip your cap to the Sage Creek kids for playing a solid game,” Wapnowski said.
Sweetwater (22-14) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when junior Abraham Gonzalez and senior Justin Meza singled to reach base before senior Ryan Galuz brought in one runner on a ground out.
Humberstone (5-7) gave up only three hits the rest of the game. The Bobcat defense helped him out by making two double plays. On an interesting note, Humberstone won the game despite not recording a strikeout.
Sage Creek (16-17) scored the only runs its would need in the second inning when freshman Scott Anderson singled and junior Tanner Blough tripled to tie the score. Junior Sam Wezniak then singled to score Blough for what proved to be the game-winning run.
It proved to be a game of missed opportunities for the Red Devils.
“We had a major threat when we loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning,” Wapnowski explained. “But we couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it.
“There was another instance when Antonio Zepeda hit a ball down the right field line that landed foul by just inches. We were inches away from tying the game. It just didn’t work out for us.”
Junior Memo Espinoza, who fashioned a 3.12 earned-run average in 49.1 innings of work, started the championship game for SuHi.
Junior Isaac Piche led the Devils with a .351 hitting average during the regular season, followed by Gonzalez, another junior, with a .326 hitting average. Meza, senior, topped the team with 11 RBI, followed by Piche and senior Salvador Rosales with 10 RBI each.
Sweetwater finished 20-13 in 2015.
Junior Showcase Game
This year’s San Diego Junior Showcase game took place June 7 at Poway High School. Three Sweetwater players were represented: Piche, Gonzalez and Espinoza.
“Sweetwater had good representation — all those guys will be back for us next year,” Wapnowski said.
