2-A Baseball Championship : Pair of Dark Horses Race to Final

SAN DIEGO — Escondido and Clairemont high schools were not among the favorites at the start of the San Diego Section 2-A baseball playoffs.

Of the 12 qualifying teams, only Coronado (12-12) had a worse overall record in the regular season. Escondido, the lowest-seeded league champion, finished 13-11. Unseeded Clairemont was 13-11-1.

But today at 2 p.m., Escondido and Clairemont will play for the 2-A championship at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Escondido earned its way into the title game by defeating No. 1-seeded Mission Bay in the semifinals. On its way to the final, Clairemont beat No. 2-seeded Castle Park in the quarterfinals.

Escondido (15-11) began its season by losing 9 of 12 nonleague games to opponents such as Granite Hills, Orange Glen and Mission Bay, all of which were ranked among the county’s top 10 teams. Escondido then won the Avocado League title with a record of 10-2 and finished the season ranked No. 9 in the county by The Times. Coach Bill Kutzner believes the high caliber of the Cougars’ nonleague opponents helped to strengthen his team.

“We played the very best 3-A competition most of the time,” Kutzner said. “The kids start thinking that they’ve played those teams and, although they beat us, nobody chased us.”

After losing its first five games, Clairemont (16-11-1) took a 6-5 lead over University City in the top of the 10th inning in the GMC tournament game. In keeping with the team’s dismal start, the game was called because of darkness before the inning could be completed. That frustrating tie was a turning point for the Chiefs, who won eight of their next nine--including their first five City Western League games.

Clairemont Coach Hugh McMillan said his team began the season lacking both confidence and starting pitching.

“In those early ballgames, I pretty much went one or two innings with each pitcher,” McMillan said. “We’d take a look at anybody--infielders, outfielders--and let them have a try.”

By the beginning of league play, McMillan had settled on Andy Williams and Ricky Doane as his starters. But unlike Escondido, Clairemont continued to have its ups and downs. Leading the City Western League after two rounds of play, the Chiefs lost three of their last five games to finish second, a game behind Mission Bay.

But Clairemont has been hot in the playoffs, beating Carlsbad, Castle Park and University of San Diego High School by a combined score of 27-7.

McMillan said the Chiefs gained confidence after beating Carlsbad, 4-3. “I think they realized that they could win in the playoffs and that they only had three more games to where they could have it all.”

Clairemont’s strength lies through the middle of its infield, with catcher Garth Clem, second baseman Mike Giordano and shortstop Doane. Besides being the team’s leading hitter at .480, Doane (6-1) is the team’s best pitcher and will start today against Escondido.

The keys to Escondido’s success have been shortstop Jason Hobbs and pitcher/outfielder Andy Martin. Hobbs (.461) bats third and leads the team in runs with 30. Martin, who is 7-5 with a 2.92 ERA, hits in the clean-up spot (.500) and is the RBI leader with 27.