The Preps : SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Nevin Headlong Dive Has Made El Dorado a Smashing Success

It was the biggest hit in El Dorado High School athletic circles since Janet Evans struck gold in Seoul.

Phil Nevin, El Dorado’s senior shortstop, came barreling around third base, heading for home plate in the Southern Section 5-A semifinals against Lakewood Tuesday. He looked up to see Keith Tripp, Lakewood’s catcher, blocking the plate. Nevin took the shortest route home--a headlong dive through Tripp.

It was a brutal collision. On a videotape of the play, Nevin knocked Tripp clear out of the picture. Worse, he knocked out Tripp’s front tooth and chipped another.

Nevin’s hustling dive to the plate provided the winning run in El Dorado’s 3-2, extra-inning victory and gave the Golden Hawks a berth in the championship game. El Dorado (22-8) faces Millikan (21-8) at 7:30 tonight in Dodger Stadium.

By Wednesday, The Hit, as it’s known around the El Dorado campus, was big news.

Classmates, especially his pals on the Golden Hawk football team, wanted to hear how the hit went down. After all, Nevin had never made a stick like that as a football player. No, he was a merely mild-mannered kicker.

Someone asked if a tiny white spot in a Times photo of the collision was Tripp’s tooth flying out of his mouth. It wasn’t.

Nevin, who had reached on a double, patiently described for one and all how he started running from second as soon as Matt Luke singled to right field. How he raced around third base, saw Tripp straddling the baseline about two feet ahead of the plate. How the ball got to the catcher a beat before Nevin did. How he dove at Tripp in his best Pete Rose style. How the catcher lost control of the ball when Nevin walloped him.

Nevin was safe and out on the same play.

The umpires ejected him for not sliding, a no-no in high school baseball. But they allowed his run to stand, giving El Dorado the victory.

To his new-found admirers, it was pure magic. But by Thursday, Nevin was feeling a tad remorseful. Viewing the tape showed him how scary the play was.

“I didn’t know I hit him so hard,” he said. “My ear flap (on his batting helmet) went right into his chin, and that must have knocked his tooth out. After watching the replay, I realize how badly hurt he could have been, or I could have been.”

Nevin did suffer a deep thigh bruise that made it difficult for him to walk Wednesday. All things considered, Tripp handled the collision well. After the game, Nevin went over to see if he was OK.

“He said, ‘Man, now I have to go to the dentist,’ ” Nevin said. “He knew there was no place else for me to go.”

Still, Nevin said if he had it to do over again, he wouldn’t change a thing, even though he was ejected.

“We won the game,” Nevin said. “I felt there was nowhere else to go. The rule book says a fielder has to have the ball to block the base, but I’ve never see an umpire call obstruction on a fielder.”

In any case, the play was typical of the approach Nevin has taken in his career.

“One of the guys Phil likes to emulate is (Dodger) Kirk Gibson,” El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said. “(Nevin) is a hard-nosed, aggressive team player. Baseball is a job, a business, and that’s kind of the way Phil plays.”

On days when El Dorado didn’t practice, Nevin could be found taking extra hitting practice off a batting tee. He improved his hitting this season, and had seven home runs, his single-season best. His .347 batting average is third-best among El Dorado’s regulars.

5-A LINEUPS

EL DORADO (22-8)

Pos. Name Avg. LF Dave Swearingen .371 2B Wayne Hefft .280 CF Dave Moore .326 SS Phil Nevin .347 C Bruce Petillo .287 1B Matt Luke .406 DH Travis Dowdell .284 RF Greg Fife .301 3B Crosby Spencer .253 P Pete Janicki (7-1)

Coach: Steve Gullotti

MILLIKAN (21-8)

Pos. Name Avg. CF Aaron Seja .360 RF Todd Taylor .333 SS Dante Powell .327 3B Scott Thielman .422 P David Mauss (11-3) .239 1B Jason Ur .338 LF Aaron Madonna .277 C David Henson .455 2B Shawn Ferguson .281

(No designated hitter)

Coach: Dan Peters