Wichmann’s 1-Hitter Crowns Turnaround for Notre Dame

If ever someone was asking for a verbal lambasting, this guy was. A fan of the Chaminade High baseball team showed up 20 minutes before Friday’s game against Notre Dame wearing a bed sheet over his head. He had cut holes to peer through and a Chaminade cap adorned his noggin.

Even the Chaminade players recognized the idiocy involved and instantly dubbed the student “The Elephant Fan.”

Now, maybe this guy knew something after all. Perhaps he was protecting his identity, because by the fifth inning The Sheet was gone.

And so was Chaminade and the league championship.

Notre Dame right-hander Cary Wichmann struck out 10 and threw a one-hitter as the Knights whitewashed Chaminade, 8-0, to clinch the San Fernando Valley League title at Chaminade.

Wichmann (10-1), who walked one batter and hit another, faced only two batters over the minimum and was so dominant that Chaminade Coach Steve Costley admitted his team didn’t have a ghost of a chance.

“I was a little worried about our pitching coming in,” Costley said. “But we could have thrown Nolan Ryan and still lost. When you only have three baserunners. . . .”

Wichmann’s only mistake came at the start of the fourth inning when Colin Havert fought back from an 0-and-2 hole to loop a single over the shortstop. Before Havert’s blooper, Wichmann had struck out four consecutive batters. One pitch later, Havert was erased as Greg Baumgartner grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

Yet, by the time Havert had broken up the no-hitter, Notre Dame (23-5, 8-2 in league play) led, 2-0. A half-inning later, Vinnie Orlando homered to right to make it 4-0, and with Wichmann on the mound, the rest was academic.

“He’s been doing it all year,” Orlando said of Wichmann. “And he did it again.”

Indeed, Wichmann’s performance was barely an improvement on last Friday’s three-hitter in a 15-1 win over St. Genevieve.

“I hadn’t pitched in a week,” said Wichmann, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound sophomore. “So I felt really strong. The curveball wasn’t really there, but the fastball felt real, real good.”

Orlando must be starting to feel something, too. The sophomore was three for three Friday and has 12 hits in his past 13 at-bats.

Chaminade, which could have forced a three-way tie for first with a win, fell to 11-14, 6-4. The Eagles finished third behind La Salle (7-3), a 5-0 winner over St. Genevieve on Friday. Notre Dame, meanwhile, continued its late-season roll after a lackluster 1-2 start in league play.

Wichmann said that after the sluggish opening Notre Dame Coach Bob Mandeville had tersely ordered some 1-2 punch.

“Coach told us when we were 1-2 that we aren’t going to win just because we’re Notre Dame,” Wichmann said. “We can’t just go through the motions. He told us then: Seven straight.”

It was a good thing Mandeville’s edict was followed to the number. After the game, Athletic Director Kevin Rooney informed Mandeville that had the Knights finished in a three-way tie, they would have been the league’s third-seeded team when the playoffs open next week.

For insurance, Notre Dame added four runs in the sixth, two on senior catcher Bobby Hughes’ third home run. The Knights pounded three Chaminade pitchers for 11 hits. The situation was so bad that when Baumgartner--who relieved starting left-hander Chris DeCristo (3-5) in the fourth--was chased in the sixth, Costley sent DeCristo back to the mound for more punishment.

DeCristo allowed a double to Chris Lohman and a home run to Hughes before freshman right-hander Ted Corcoran recorded the inning’s final two outs.