ROUNDUP : MISSION BAY BEATS CLOCK AND MT. CARMEL, 10-9

As the seventh inning ended and extra innings loomed in the championship game of the Hilltop-Moose baseball tournament Saturday, neither Mt. Carmel Coach Sam Blalock nor Mission Bay Coach Dennis Pugh thought there was enough daylight to continue.

But the umpires disagreed. And Mt. Carmel expired before the last bit of daylight did at Hilltop High School as Mission Bay claimed the title with a 10-9 eight-inning decision.

Mission Bay’s Sean Rees, who had three RBIs and pitched the final 1 innings, picked up the victory to run his record to 3-0. Mt. Carmel’s John Tejcek (0-1), who pitched the final two innings, took the loss. Mission Bay is 5-0-1, Mt. Carmel 4-2.

“We shouldn’t have played that last inning,” Pugh said. “I wouldn’t want to face Rees in that light.”

“I thought it was too dark in the seventh,” Blalock said. “It gets dark at 6 p.m. at this time of year, and we didn’t start the eighth until 5:45. The way the game was going, there was no way we were going to complete an inning in 15 minutes.”

The game ended, appropriately enough, the way it began: with walks.

Mission Bay’s Tony Leannan singled to start the bottom of the eighth, and Brian Haire and pinch-hitter Guillermo Aviles followed with walks. Tejcek then walked Deron Sesslar to force Leannan home with the winning run.

“I wanted to make him throw strikes,” said Sesslar, who took four straight balls. “He wasn’t throwing any, so I wasn’t swinging at anything.”

Nine pitchers for Mt. Carmel and Mission Bay combined for 21 walks--15 in the first four innings.

Mt. Carmel sent 11 batters to the plate in the first and scored 7 runs on just one hit. Five of the first six Mt. Carmel batters walked, and all scored.

Mission Bay answered with three runs in the second--on a hit, an error and two walks--and six in the third, on 4 hits, 2 errors and 2 walks.

Despite not wanting to play the eighth inning, Pugh was happy to win. “You beat the best when you beat Mt. Carmel,” he said. “They have the best tradition and the best coaching in the county.”

In another Hilltop-Moose game:

Helix 15, Granite Hills 6--Spike Mitchell was 3 for 4, including a grand slam, with 7 RBIs to lead Helix over Grossmont League rival Granite Hills in the third-place game. Ricky Page added a solo home run for Helix (5-1). Damon Luban (2-1) pitched five innings and struck out eight.

PIRATE--GOODMAN CLASSIC

Torrey Pines 16, Patrick Henry 4--Leading, 6-2, Torrey Pines scored 10 runs in the top of the seventh to win the tournament championship. The victory also kept Torrey Pines undefeated at 6-0. John Lynch was 4 for 5 with 3 RBIs and scored 3 times, and pitcher Aaron Mirandon was 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs for Torrey Pines. Mirandon allowed four hits and struck out eight for his third victory in three starts. Matt Livingston was 3 for 4 with a solo homer for Torrey Pines.

GMC TOURNAMENT

Santana 9, Coronado 6--Trailing, 5-2, after three innings, Santana rallied for a 5-run fourth to win the championship of the GMC tournament at Santana. Robert Tucker was 2 for 4 with 4 RBIs, including a two-run single in the fourth. Bruce Moutaw added a solo home run in the sixth for Santana (6-0). Kyle Sebach (1-0) came on in relief.

CRAWFORD TOURNAMENT

Mira Mesa 6, La Jolla 3--Helped by two key errors, Mira Mesa (6-1) scored 5 runs on 1 hit in the first two innings and went on to capture the Crawford title. Eric Martinez (1-0) gave up 3 hits in five innings to pick up the victory. Luke Williams (1-1) surrendered just 4 hits in the loss. La Jolla is 5-2.

Morse 9, Crawford 2--Mike Smith had 2 hits and 4 RBIs to lead Morse (3-4). Cesar Guzman added a two-run homer for Morse, and Manny Gagliano hit a two-run homer for Crawford (3-4).

WARHAWK TOURNAMENT

Orange Glen 14, Bonita Vista 8--Shannon Vinje was 2 for 4 with a double and a home run to lead Orange Glen, which scored in every inning of the consolation game. Sean Gousha was 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and Matt Taylor got the win.