3-A Baseball : Mt. Carmel Has Victory in Hand; Helix Is Next

A victory was hidden somewhere in the seven innings of baseball Mt. Carmel second baseman Ed Cornblum played Saturday at the University of San Diego.

It could have been in Cornblum’s third inning throw to the plate that barely caught Mira Mesa’s Beau Champoux. Or maybe in Cornblum’s third-inning, two-run home run, or his being hit by a pitch in fifth inning. Somewhere, a ticket to Thursday’s San Diego Section 3-A championship game was waiting.

Turned out, however, that a big part of the victory was hidden in Cornblum’s glove when he executed of the hidden ball trick in the top of the seventh. It took the gas right out of Mira Mesa and sent Mt. Carmel toward a 5-4 semifinal victory.

Cornblum made the play with the one out, men on first and second and the score tied, 4-4. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Mark Van Aelstyn doubled Cornblum home with the winning run.

No. 3 Helix defeated fifth-ranked Castle Park, 13-7, in the second semifinal.

Mt. Carmel (25-2) and Mira Mesa (22-5) might still be playing if not for the key seventh inning plays by Cornblum and Van Aelstyn. With second baseman Ricky Hastey batting, Mt. Carmel pitcher Byron Klemaske attempted unsuccessfully to pick off pinch-runner Mike Gerardi, who was brought up from the junior varsity just in time for the playoffs. Next thing you knew, Klemaske was on the mound staring in at Hastey, shortstop John Tejcek was saying something to the umpire, and then there was some movement at second. Then the umpire was sticking his thumb in the air.

“I asked the runner if he would mind getting off the base,” Cornblum said. “I said, ‘I’m going to clean off the bag.’ So he stepped off, and I tagged him.”

Twice Mira Mesa led, and twice Mt. Carmel tied it. But a turning point came with Mira Mesa ahead, 4-3, in the fifth. One run had already scored, and Brendan Hause was on first when Mike Bovee grounded to Tejcek. The shortstop fielded it and threw to second, where Hause slid hard into Cornblum. Mt. Carmel Coach Sam Blalock immediately argued that Bovee should be ruled out at first because Hause had interfered at second, even though there was no relay throw. The umpires concurred.

“It was blatant,” Blalock said. “The kid went over and past the base. The rule is there to protect kids, and I told the umpire I’ve seen it called this year even when there was no contact. The umpire should have either called the runner out at first or thrown the runner at second out of the game, and he wasn’t calling either one.”

Until Blalock’s appearance, which sent Mira Mesa Coach Mike Prosser into a rage. But there was nothing he could do, and Mira Mesa’s potential big inning was scotched. Champoux flied to center field to officially finish the top of the inning.

There was no controversy in the second game, which basically served as batting practice for Helix (24-5). The Highlanders banged out 14 hits and scored in each of the first five innings, and Tom Hall was three for four with six runs batted in.

Still, Helix’s four errors prevented it from being a laugher. Helix scored three first-inning runs but made fielding errors against two of Castle Park’s first three batters.