HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Mission Bay Leaves USDHS With a Few Questions

USDHS pitcher Ian Hamilton stood calmly in front of his team’s dugout, warm-up jacket buttoned to his chin, arms hanging slack while his teammates collected bats, gloves, balls after the Dons lost, 7-1, to Mission Bay on Thursday.

They were at home, playing before a vocal crowd estimated at 500 at Cunningham Stadium. They already had clinched the City Western League championship and had 21 victories.

It was a great season, but the way the Dons (21-8) finished it left Hamilton and his teammates concerned. Two weeks ago, USDHS was 7-0 and seemed to be running away with the league title. The Dons stubbed their toes in a 5-3 loss against Mission Bay on May 7. Things haven’t been the same since.

USDHS wound up losing three of its final five league games and ultimately forfeited part of the championship Thursday. Both teams finished as co-champions with 9-3 records.

The Dons also blew what will probably be the No. 1-seeding in the section 2-A playoffs, which start Tuesday. The Buccaneers (22-8)--because they beat USDHS two out of three times--earned the Western League’s top playoff spot. The Dons, at best, can only hope to be seeded sixth.

“We kind of choked,” Hamilton said, breaking the silence. “Maybe this’ll wake us up.”

Hamilton (5-3), a tall right-hander who out-dueled Mission Bay’s Manny Castillo, 2-1, April 25, failed to retire the leadoff batter in the first three innings Thursday--but he held the Bucs to one run in that span. Hamilton finally paid the price in the fourth, which opened with third-baseman Robb Floco making his second fielding error.

After Eric Serrano sacrificed pinch-runner Jason Diaz to second, John Pelligren looped a double to right center and Joe Enomoto banged a two-run double down the right-field line. Stan Sgambelluri followed with an infield single. Hamilton struck out J.J. Ibarra, walked Danny Gil and got Ivan Espinoza to end the inning on a ground out. But in the process, the senior threw three wild pitches that allowed Enomoto and Sgambelluri to score.

Mission Bay led, 5-0, and USDHS never recovered--especially after Floco struck out with the bases loaded in the fourth.

Dons Coach Dick Serrano said he was “not disappointed,” but to hear Hamilton talk, USDHS’ season is like a reel of a highlight film left tangled on the floor. It’s time to rewind.

“I think the whole team went to sleep,” Hamilton said. “We talked about ‘clinching it now’ a couple of weeks ago. But everybody relaxed. We got cocky . . . a lot of people started looking at stats.

“And we’ve always had trouble with this Manny Castillo guy.”

Castillo, 6-2 lifetime against the defending Western League champion Dons, got the key victory two weeks ago when USDHS could have moved to 8-0, 3 1/2 games ahead of Mission Bay. The Bucs then vowed to win the rest of their league games, which they did.

“Everybody was counting on me today,” said Castillo (7-4), who struck out six and allowed seven hits, no walks and one hit batsman. “We were just pumped today. Everybody wanted to play today. You could see it in their faces.”

Second baseman Enomoto, one of three starting sophomores, was three for four with two RBIs and continued to collect pressure hits while batting ninth.

“I get my pitch when I bat ninth,” he said, “and I sort of don’t mind pressure. I concentrate more.”