HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Late Hit Gives Hilltop Share of Metro Lead

To end an exciting, improbable and coincidental Metro Conference baseball game Tuesday, Sergio Guzman lined a run-scoring single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh to give Hilltop High a 2-1 victory over Montgomery High.

The finish alone should cover the exciting part. How about the improbable?

Tenth-ranked Hilltop, which finished ninth in the league last year, and No. 7 Montgomery, which finished 10th, are now tied for first at 4-1 with Southwest, which tied for sixth last year and is now just 6-10 overall.

Both Hilltop and Montgomery entered Tuesday’s game at Hilltop at 12-5. It was Hilltop’s second 2-1 league victory decided in the bottom of the seventh this season.

And the coincidental?

Pitchers Silva and Silvas engaged in a splendid duel.

Montgomery’s David Silvas (4-2) allowed three hits in defeat. Hilltop’s Jose Silva allowed just one hit--a checked-swing single to center in the fourth by Montgomery catcher Miguel Perez--to win his fifth in eight decisions.

Both Silva, a 6-foot-5 junior, and Silvas, a 5-8 sophomore, are highly regarded right-handers.

“(Silva) is probably the best pitcher in the county,” Montgomery Coach Manuel Hermosillo said. “And there’s nothing wrong with losing to the best pitcher in the county.”

These teams have other similarities. Hilltop’s lineup included four juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, Montgomery’s three juniors, three sophomores and a freshman. Each started just three seniors (both used a designated hitter).

“The same thing that happened to Manny (Hermosillo), happened to me,” Hilltop Coach John Baumgarten said. “We got a good young bunch of kids coming up that play the game very well.”

Montgomery got its run in the first inning when a light drizzle and stiff breeze made pitching tough. Silva walked the first three batters, and the first, Jose Lorenzana, scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by cleanup hitter Perez. The Lancers escaped further damage when freshman right fielder Henry Mercado caught a fly ball and threw out Saul Rodriguez as he tried to score from third.

A run-scoring double by David Chapman in the third tied the game, 1-1, and then came Guzman’s seventh-inning heroics.

With the bases loaded and one out, Guzman, a junior transfer from Morse, lined a fastball into center to end it.