3-A Baseball Final : Helix, Santana Will Decide Who’s the Hottest

Heat is predicted for the San Diego Section 3-A high school baseball championship game at the University of San Diego this afternoon. That’s not a weather report.

Two of the county’s hottest pitchers probably will lead two equally hot teams into the All-Grossmont League final, top-seeded Helix (25-2) against Santana (23-7) at 4 p.m. It is the first time two Grossmont teams have met for the championship since Helix beat El Capitan, 4-2, in 1963.

Helix defeated Granite Hills and defending champion Mt. Carmel to reach the final and has an 18-game winning streak.

Santana outscored its three playoff opponents, 25-0.

Such run production is not surprising for a team batting .340, but pitching was equally important. Paul Newark, today’s probable starter, has a scoreless string of 15 innings in the playoffs. He is 5-0 after a late start because of basketball.

Not that Santana has needed shutouts. The Sultans averaged eight runs per game, led by John Barnhill (.449), Barry O’Gorman (.383), Darrin Forster (.375, 6 homers) and Jason Cabral (.367).

Santana, in fact, is the only team that has been able to hit left-hander Rick Navarro, the Helix starter today.

Navarro (13-0) defeated Santana twice, 9-5 and 5-4, but the Sultans had 10 hits in each game against him.

Navarro is playing the final scene in a dream season. He won only two games as a junior and was regarded as Helix’s No. 2 pitcher coming in.

Instead, he established himself as the team’s ace. Navarro has 135 strikeouts in 97 innings and an earned-run average of 1.29. Navarro also had a no-hitter and is the first county pitcher to win this many games without a loss since Daro Quiring (13-0) did it for Poway in 1963.

“When it comes down to big games, pitching has a lot to do with it,” said Jerry Schniepp, Helix coach. “And I think we have an advantage there.”

Helix has senior right-hander Damon Luban (11-1) as a backup, and Santana has senior right-hander Jeff Matranga (8-1).

Helix can hit, too. The Highlanders batted .320 and are led by catcher Rick Page (.479), the Grossmont League’s top hitter, Dan Tiumalu (.416) and Rich Haar (.400).

The 1988 Helix team has quite a list of achievements. It was the first to go unbeaten in league play in the Grossmont’s 27-year history. It set a league scoring mark in a 30-2 victory over Valhalla.

But the Highlanders will be going against a tradition. Santana is 12-2 in playoff games over the past five years and has six players who started for last year’s team, which lost to Mt. Carmel in the final. Santana reached the final four of those five years and won titles in 1984 and 1986.

A key for Helix is going to be defense. Santana has taken advantage of 14 errors in playoff victories over Torrey Pines, Madison and Grossmont.

Defense was Santana’s one major weakness as the Sultans finished third in the league, five games behind Helix.

“We’ve had some moments when we’ve played pretty awful,” said Jim Saska, Santana coach. “We’re just going to have to play good solid defense. Offensively, I’m not worried.”

Neither team has any advantages hidden from the other.

“We know them, and they know us,” Schniepp said. “There aren’t going to be any surprises, so the best team is going to win.”