St. Augustine Makes History With Victory in Baseball Playoffs

During the past 14 years, St. Augustine High has had more major league baseball players (John D’Acquisto and John Wathan), more NFL players (Monte Jackson, Terry Jackson and Tim Smith), more mayors (Roger Hedgecock) and more city councilmen (Uvaldo Martinez) than baseball playoff victories.

During that time, however, the Saints had never been in a playoff game.

That is, until Tuesday. The Saints traveled to Escondido High, the site of their most recent playoff game in 1975, and defeated the Cougars, 5-1, to advance to the quarterfinals of the San Diego Section 2-A playoffs Thursday against Grossmont. St. Augustine is 17-11. Escondido finished 20-8.

Cougar Coach Bill Kutzner, a St. Augustine graduate, began coaching at Escondido in ’75 and barely remembers that playoff game. Ditto for Bill Whitaker, St. Augustine’s coach that year, who retired last season from coaching but still teaches at the school.

Mike Stephensen, Saints’ first-year coach, will remember Tuesday’s game for a long time.

“We executed well,” said Stephensen, whose team has won 10 consecutive games. “You can’t execute any better than we did today.”

St. Augustine had timely hitting, scoring five runs on seven singles and a squeeze bunt. Eric Dent was two for four with an RBI and two runs scored, and Jim Bitler was two for four with two RBIs and a run scored.

St. Augustine played terrific defense. Saints turned a nifty pitcher-to-short-to-first double play in the sixth inning. And Bitler, in left field, made a diving catch along the foul line to end the game with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.

But game-ball honors would have to go to pitcher Brad Gennaro (8-6). The senior left-hander scattered eight hits and allowed just one run (in the seventh). Gennaro, the county leader in strikeouts with 94 during the regular season, also struck out five, but admittedly did not have his normal velocity.

What he did have was control of a curveball that kept Escondido hitters frustrated for most of the afternoon. “He did a real good job of keeping us off balance today,” said Kutzner.

Mark Jackson, who threw nine innings on Friday against Hoover to determine second place in the City Central League, came in to get the last two outs after Gennaro had tired in the seventh.