San Diego Prep Baseball : Patrick Henry Lodges Protest in 7-3 Loss to Santana High

Santana High School pitcher Jeff Barry scattered five hits over six innings to lead the Sultans to a 7-3 victory against Patrick Henry in a nonleague baseball game Friday at Patrick Henry.

Barry had the Patriots shut out until the seventh inning. A controversial umpire call, which prompted a formal protest by Patriot Coach Bob Imlay, cut the Patriot rally short.

Santana entered the seventh inning with a comfortable 7-0 lead. Patriot right fielder Tim Edmonds led off the inning with a single and left fielder Doug Owens followed with a double, scoring Edmonds. Second baseman Pat Vinton and pinch hitter Scott Hopkins walked, loading the bases.

Jim Tatum replaced Barry on the mound and Norman Whitehead, Patrick Henry’s leadoff batter, hit a ground-rule double to right field. Owens and Vinton scored, cutting the lead to 7-3, and Patrick Henry had runners on second and third with none outs.

“The visiting team then told the umpire that in their scorebook, Norman had struck out,” Imlay said. “We had him at two and two.”

The umpire ruled Whitehead had struck out and then ruled Whitehead had made a second out for batting out of turn. In essence, the pitch Whitehead hit for a double was meant for the next batter.

“The umpire didn’t do anything to say Norman was out,” Imlay said. “He let Norman step back in and hit the next pitch. It wasn’t until they (Santana) showed him their scorebook that he said he remembered striking someone out. And Norman was standing on second base.”

Suddenly, the Patriots trailed, 7-3, and had a runner on third and two outs. Despite the umpire’s ruling that Whitehead never should have hit, the two runs that scored on the phantom double still counted. According to Imlay, the decision on the protest should be announced Monday or Tuesday.

Mira Mesa 4, Clairemont 0--The Mauraders’ Jimmy Pritikin allowed just one hit in his shutout of the Chieftains at Clairemont.

Bonita Vista 9, Escondido 6--The Barons scored three runs in the first inning and four in the third to beat the Cougars. Jim Werner, John Nelson, David Woodhouse and Jerry Foncerrada had two hits each for Bonita Vista. Woodhouse and Foncerrada drove in two runs apiece.

Freshman Randy Abshier was the winning pitcher for the Barons (2-3), Joe Petrucelli took the loss. Bonita Vista finished seventh in the MONY Tournament.

Lincoln 3, El Cajon 2--Leon Connelly’s run-scoring single in the fourth inning broke a 2-2 tie and enabled the Hornets to nip the Braves. Keith Cotton was the winning pitcher for Lincoln (2-2). Rusty Pennock took the loss for the Braves (1-3).

Serra 4, Crawford 0--Serra’s Tim Finn pitched a two-hitter and struck out seven, as the Conquistadors beat the Colts in the third round of the Colts Tournament. Beto Rodriguez had two hits and drove in two runs for the Conquistadors. Serra is 3-1, Crawford 1-2.

Morse 9, La Jolla 3--At La Jolla, the Tigers scored four runs in the fifth inning to win their fourth game in five tries. Center fielder Tony Bell, who went 3 for 4, had a two-run double in the fifth.

Montgomery 7, Mount Miguel 3--Back-to-back home runs by Kirk Winger and Santiago Delhoyo broke a 3-3 tie and led the Aztecs to a win at Spring Valley.

San Diego 6, Coronado 3--It was a good day for Caver pitcher Byron Johnson. Not only did he have 11 strikeouts, but Johnson went 3 for 3 at the plate. San Diego first baseman Prentice Byrd had a double, triple and three RBIs. The Cavers are 1-5.