San Diego Prep Baseball Roundup : Woodhouse Overpowers Sweetwater

As it got cloudy and cold Thursday in the seventh inning at Bonita Vista High School, pitcher David Woodhouse got hot.

The right-hander struck out two Sweetwater batters to help give the No. 10-ranked Barons a key 2-1 Metro-Mesa League victory over the No. 8 Red Devils.

The victory moved Bonita Vista, 8-3 in league and 16-7 overall, into a first-place tie with Sweetwater (8-3, 12-10).

Woodhouse, who allowed four hits and struck out six in improving his record to 8-0, got some help from outfielder Billy Miller.

With the score tied, 1-1, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Terry Ehrhardt doubled and took third on a passed ball. With two outs, Miller was walked intentionally.

With Woodhouse at the plate, Miller told Coach John Gibbs that Bonita Vista should try a double steal. Gibbs agreed, but told Miller not to try it until Woodhouse had two strikes.

When Woodhouse took a second strike, Miller broke from first and remained in a rundown long enough to allow Ehrhardt to score the game-winning run.

“It was a typical first-and-third situation,” Gibbs said. “Miller came over to me and said ‘let’s try it.’ . . . If it was anybody else but Ehrhardt on third I wouldn’t have done it, but he’s the fastest guy on the team.”

Miller gave Bonita Vista a 1-0 lead by lining an inside-the-park home run in the first inning. At Bonita Vista, there are no fences and Sweetwater right fielder Ernie Diaz didn’t even touch the ball until Miller was crossing the plate.

Sweetwater tied it in the top of the sixth when Steve Contreras squeezed in losing pitcher Victor Ramirez.

--ROB MIECH

In other games:

AVOCADO LEAGUE

San Pasqual 5, San Marcos 1--Coach Bill Green used four pitchers Tuesday in San Pasqual’s 6-2 nonleague win over Poway so his staff would be rested to face No. 7 San Marcos. The strategy worked as Darren Dunn, who started and pitched two innings Tuesday, threw a two-hitter and struck out eight to beat the first-place Knights and keep the Eagles’ playoff hopes alive. Chris Portis hit a two-run home run in the third and had three RBIs to lead San Pasqual (5-5, 11-9-1). San Marcos (8-3, 13-8) scored its only run in the second.

CITY EASTERN LEAGUE

Point Loma 4, Madison 2--Walt Edwards, who had two of the five hits by the No. 5 Pointers, scored the tying run in the sixth and then an error gave first-place Point Loma (7-2, 18-5) the win. With runners on first and second, Noah Tafoya grounded out to the shortstop. Rigo Beltran made too wide a turn going to second, but the throw by the Madison first baseman trying to double him up was wild, allowing Beltran and Pat Evenson to score. Chris Redding (12-2) pitched the final 2 innings for the win.

Mira Mesa 9, Patrick Henry 3--Kevin Hancock’s homer in a six-run first helped Mira Mesa (6-3, 14-13) improve its chances for a postseason berth. On the day, Hancock was 3 for 4 with three RBIs. Mike Eicher was 2 for 3 with a double and Ray Bamford was 2 for 4 for Mira Mesa, which had 13 hits.

Morse 11, Serra 8--Javier Brown went 2 for 4 with three RBIs and stole home for third-place Morse (5-4, 14-12). Jim Sippel’s bases-loaded single in the sixth drove in two to put Morse ahead for good. Joel Lager was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and his brother, Dwayne, was 2 for 2 with two RBIs. Norman Vance (4-0) got the win in relief. Jason Arzaga was 3 for 4 with two RBIs for Serra (4-4-1, 12-8).

PALOMAR LEAGUE

Fallbrook 3, Orange Glen 2--No. 6 Fallbrook scored two unearned runs on two Orange Glen errors to take the lead for good in the second. After two singles, the Orange Glen first baseman dropped Ty Barksdale’s line drive, allowing one run to score. When Barksdale tried to steal second, catcher Scott Carlovsky threw the ball into center field. Carlovsky made up for it later when he hit a run-scoring triple and scored on Frank Escalante’s single in the sixth. Bill Dunckel doubled in the other Fallbrook run in the first. In other Palomar League games, Poway (5-5, 12-10) defeated Torrey Pines (4-7, 7-15) 11-2.