HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL : Early in Year, Mt. Carmel Appears Pitcher Perfect

Maybe Mt. Carmel would like to get into its Palomar League season right now. The host Sundevils, playing their fourth game of the year, looked in midseason form Friday as they defeated Patrick Henry, 5-1, in the fourth round of the Madison Warhawk Tournament.

Scott Tebbetts and Mario Israel threw a combined three-hitter, and Armando Sanchez played a dazzling shortstop as Mt. Carmel improved to 2-1-1. Sanchez, a senior, had seven assists and robbed the Patriots of a pair of singles in the sixth inning. It was in the sixth that Patrick Henry (1-3) scored its run and mounted its only threat to get back into the game.

“We went into winter ball and got some work in, and I think it helped us,” said first-year Coach Steve Edwards, who had the Sundevils playing in the six-game Coaches League in January and February. “I think (Tebbetts and Israel) will be our No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers.”

Sanchez’s glove helped junior reliever Israel, who walked two and gave up an unearned run in the sixth. But Israel, who threw three hitless innings while striking out three, struck out pinch hitter Chris Moore looking to end the threat with runners at first and third. Then Israel caught pinch-hitter Dane Merkel looking at a curveball to retire the Patriots in order in the seventh and end the game.

Tebbetts (1-0), a senior, worked four scoreless innings, striking out three and walking none. Mt. Carmel scored three times in the third off loser Robbie Coe (1-1). First baseman Andy Owens, who was two for three and scored three times, capped the Sundevils’ scoring with a 380-foot home run to center off Coe in the fifth inning.

This was a game between two teams that reached the section 3-A semifinals last year, but Coach Rob Imlay said the Patriots have only one returning starter and are so young he’s never seen some of them play.

“We’re not playing with confidence,” Imlay said. “We’ve had good pitching. We’ve got to shore up our defense and make a little contact.”