The 68th Lions Tournament, boasting a record 144 teams in 10 divisions, has dominated prep baseball play this week. Fifteen South County teams participated in the latest edition.
Six have advanced to Thursday’s playoff rounds.
It’s a time still early enough in the season to make adjustments yet far enough along to get a measure on teams that could dominate in the postseason.
Bonita Vista head coach Vince Gervais called playing in the long-running tournament both a pleasure and an honor.
“The work that Judge (Peter) Gallagher and his staff do to put this together is amazing,” Gervais said. “Playing top competition and playing teams from outside the county is always a great experience. Playing four or five games in four days is taxing yet builds memories that these players will have for a lifetime.
“Because of the demand, there is always an unsung hero from within the team that rises up to the challenge and we discover a new layer to our team’s successes.”
The prospect of meeting new opponents, especially highly-touted teams from far off locales, is also a drawing card.
“The Lions Tournament gives the team a chance to play teams we typically don’t play during the season,” High Tech High Chula Vista athletic director Alan Botterman noted. “It’s nice to play teams from out of town.”
Like the Barons, the Bruins are fielding a young team this season but one not without talent.
Senior pitcher Ari Martin hurled a no-hitter against El Cajon Valley earlier this season and threw just 62 pitches in a 2-1 complete game loss to Olympian.
Players to watch include sophomore shortstop Kai Saterstrom and junior third baseman Ben Williams.
Hear them roar
New this year was the showcase Open Division that featured a host of state- and nationally-ranked teams.
Eastlake, the reigning San Diego Section Open Division champion, was included in the same pool alongside La Costa Canyon and Madison from the San Diego region and Vista Grande from Casa Grande, Ariz.
Other teams in the new Open Division included Cathedral Catholic, West Linn (Ore.), Granite Hills, San Marcos, Helix, Torrey Pines, El Camino Real, Elk Grove, Rancho Bernardo, Grossmont, Bishop Gorman and Clackamas (Ore.).
Eastlake defeated Helix to win last year’s Open Division championship while Grossmont defeated Francis Parker to win last year’s Division I title.
Overall, eight of the section’s top 10-ranked teams helped fill out the new Lions Tournament Open Division alongside such highly regarded out-of-town teams as Nevada’s Bishop Gorman (ranked third in the nation) and Northern California’s Elk Grove (ranked eighth in the nation).
Both Oregon teams, as well as Arizona’s Vista Grande and Woodland Hills’ El Camino Real, were also highly regarded.
However, the locals seemed to hold their own.
The Titans, the top-ranked team in San Diego, opened the tournament with a 16-0 statement win over Vista Grande on Monday.
Eastlake improved to 2-0 in tournament play with a 5-1 win over Madison on Tuesday.
The Titans have eight players on their roster with college commitments this season, led by Grant Holman (Cal) and Brian Leonhardt (SDSU), two of the top pitching prospects in the county.
Pitching depth definitely aided the defending section champions this week as Eastlake (9-1-1) qualified for the Open Division playoffs with an 8-1 win over LCC on Wednesday.
Holman threw a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts. He allowed one unearned run; his fastball was clocked at 94 mph.
The Titans will play San Marcos in a semifinal match-up at 11 a.m. at Madison High School.
Rancho Bernardo and Torrey Pines will meet at noon at Cathedral Catholic High School.
The winners of the two semifinal games will battle for the tourney’s new elite title at 3:30 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic.
By the numbers
Tournament games were played at 75 venues across the county Monday through Thursday.
On an impressive note, nine Metro Conference teams won their openers; seven stood at 2-0 through Tuesday’s games and five finished undefeated in pool play.
Bonita Vista, keyed by five RBI from Gustavo Perez, blasted Cleveland (Reseda), 16-4, in a Premier Division game on Monday.
The Barons (6-5) topped Summit (Ore.), 7-1, on Tuesday as DiMaggio Cazares and Perez each went three-for-three. Perez clubbed a home run and finished the game with four RBI while Cazares belted a double and triple to make a winner out of pitcher Bubba Villegas.
San Ysidro (6A Division), Mater Dei Catholic (5A Division), Mar Vista (4A Division), Castle Park (2A Division) and Southwest (2A Division) all posted 2-0 starts.
San Ysidro rolled past Victor Valley, 10-1, on Monday behind winning pitcher Kevin Garcia. The Cougars came back to top Santa Fe Christian, 9-5, on Tuesday.
Castle Park tripped up Rancho Christian, 8-7, on Monday as Jeffrie Villegas delivered a game-wining RBI single to make a winner out of pitcher Emilio Luna.
In a non-conference match-up of South County squads on Monday, Southwest defeated High Tech High Chula Vista 7-1.
In a pair of lopsided games on Tuesday, Castle Park romped past Gompers Prep, 13-0, while Southwest out-paced Calvary Murrieta 12-1.
Mar Vista edged West Hills, 2-1, on Monday as pitcher Jake Borst picked up the win (with a save from Edmund King). Borst belted a home run in Tuesday’s 5-1 win over Ridgeview.
Mater Dei Catholic defeated Taft (Woodland Hills) by a 5-1 score on Monday and out-scored Southwest El Centro, 7-5, on Tuesday.
Other winners in Monday’s openers included Otay Ranch (6A Division) and Chula Vista (4A Division).
Otay Ranch slipped past Colorado’s Valor Christian by a score of 7-6 while Chula Vista — last year’s Division IV section champions — blanked Sweetwater, 3-0, as both west side rivals were included in the same pool.
Not all the locals came up winners in Monday’s openers.
Desert Oasis (Nev.) defeated Montgomery (Classic Division), 9-2, while Oceanside out-scored Olympian (5A Division), 11-7. Lincoln shut out Bayfront Charter (1B Division) 14-0.
However, Montgomery evened its record at 1-1 with a 10-2 victory against Palisades on Tuesday while Olympian topped Mira Mesa, 3-1, to pick up its first tourney win.
Playoff picture
Castle Park blanked Buckley High School from Sherman Oaks, 8-0, in Wednesday’s final round of pool play to push through to Thursday’s playoffs.
Diego Martinez tossed a complete game four-hitter for the Trojans (7-4). Emilio Luna scored three runs while Eleazar Cruz had two RBI.
“We have a young but scrappy team,” CPHS head coach Miguel Lopez said. “We had some early mistakes at the beginning of the season. We’re making less mistakes now and learning how to finish games.”
Mater Dei Catholic, San Ysidro, Mar Vista and Southwest joined Castle Park and Eastlake in Thursday’s playoffs.
Mater Dei Catholic (5-8) topped Monte Vista, 9-7, in Wednesday’s pool finale while Mar Vista (11-1) edged Mt. Carmel 3-1. Southwest (7-7) hammered Mountain Empire 23-1.
San Ysidro (10-3) made the playoffs despite dropping a7-4 decision to Broomfield (Colo.) on Wednesday.
In semifinal games:
6A Division — San Ysidro will play California at 12:30 p.m. in the second half of a double-header at Steele Canyon High School that first pits Rancho Las Vegas and Canyon Crest Academy at 9:30 a.m. Winners pair up in the championship game at 3:30 p.m.
5A Division — Mater Dei Catholic will play Serra at 12:30 p.m. at San Diego High School. The winner advances to the championship game at the same site at 3:30 p.m. against either University City or Sierra Canyon.
4A Division — Mar Vista will play San Pasqual at 9:30 a.m. at Mt. Carmel while Mission Bay will play Roosevelt at 12:30 p.m. Winners advance to the championship game at 3:30 p.m. at the same site.
2A Division — Castle Park will play Linfield Christian at 9:30 a.m. while Southwest will play Holtville at 12:30 p.m. in double-header action at Bonita Vista High School. Winners advance to the championship game at 3:30 p.m., also at BVHS.
Championship rewind
San Marcos defeated Santana to win last year’s Division II championship while Brawley defeated Serra to win last year’s Division III title.
Chula Vista defeated Classical Academy to win last year’s Division IV championship while Maranatha Christian defeated Escondido Charter to win last year’s Division V title.
Barons’ ongoing rebuild could offer rewards
Bonita Vista High School baseball coach Vince Gervais admits this year’s team finds itself in another rebuilding season.
“Although we are a talented group, we are still very young,” he said. “We return most of the players from last year’s team when the team was even younger.”
The Barons (6-6) do have a few select seniors to provide some guidance — Gustavo Perez and Sebastian Olivo. Four other seniors are all quality role players: Ken Daplas, Chris Andersen, Isaac Burow and Julian Cota.
The team’s two captains — juniors Omar Vega and Dimaggio Cazares — provide strong work ethic leadership, according to the BVHS coach.
“Offensively we are driven by gap hitters,” Gervais said.
Those players include sophomores Bubba Villegas, Nate Nankil and Eric Nakano and juniors Isaac Almendarez, Rumble Reyes and Alec Bruce.
“If our junior role players can find that magic to drive the energy of the team, we can compete with anyone,” Gervais said.
Those players include juniors Caiden Ragadio, Justin Snarponis, Mike Barajas, Derek Balancier, Stefano Maldonado and sophomore Ronald Vann.
“This is a fun group and once they learn to stay gold and let the ball travel offensively, their natural talent will explode and we will be a county team to reckon with,” Gervais said. “Our pitching is as deep as it ever has been in my 13 seasons, but we do not yet have that one guy. Hopefully that cream will rise to the top as this season progresses.”
Early season team leaders include Almendarez with a .417 hitting average, Nankil with a .400 hitting average, Nankano with a .350 hitting average. Gustavo Perez tops the team with 14 RBI, followed by Nankil with 13 RBI.
Nankil, Perez and Cazares each have blasted home runs this season; Snarponis is 2-0 on the mound with a 1.70 earned-run average.
The BVHS coach said team chemistry is more important than ever this season.
“Last year there was some undertones of dissent that worked from the inside out to poison the team chemistry; we are confident that the camaraderie with this group and the lessons from last year will keep these boys hungry and dedicated to the grind,” Gervais said.
