Mira Mesa Restores Some Order in Race

After the first three weeks of the high school baseball season, it didn’t seem likely that Mira Mesa and Patrick Henry would be playing the first Friday in May for an edge in the City Eastern League race.

However, but fifth-ranked Mira Mesa managed to restore some order to an otherwise wacky spring by taking a 4-3 victory from the Patriots.

Mira Mesa, the defending 3-A champion, was 8-0 and ranked No. 1 in the county by The Times and third in the nation by USA Today after the first three weeks of the 1991 season.

Patrick Henry was 1-7, 2-7 if you count the Patriots’ Superior Court victory over the San Diego Section, which allowed the school to play nonleague games.

Patrick Henry had been limited to league games only in 1991, repercussions for instigating a brawl after its 1990 3-A semifinal with Monte Vista. But in February, Henry players and their parents sued the section and won the right to play a full schedule.

As the season slowly progressed--rain kept Henry idle for four consecutive weeks--the Patriots won six of their next eight. The Marauders went 11-4-1 since starting the season 8-0.

Last week--when the city leagues switched to a three-games-per-week format--Henry upset Mira Mesa at home, setting up Friday’s showdown.

Mira Mesa took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, making the most of two hits and four walks before a double play ended the inning.

Henry was equally fortunate, tying the score in the third inning. Tony Bedikian’s bases-loaded grounder to second scored one run, and a two-out fielding error by Mira Mesa allowed two more.

Mira Mesa first baseman Brendan Hause broke the 3-3 tie with a run-scoring single in the top of the sixth to give Mike Bovee (6-2) his second victory of the week and Mira Mesa its third. The Marauders (19-4-1, 7-1) have a two-game lead over Henry (7-10, 5-3) with four games left.

Bovee, who pitched three innings in Monday’s 12-2 victory over Point Loma, went the distance, allowing four hits and one earned run and striking out seven. He now has 94 strikeouts, second in the county.

Aside from the third inning--when Henry sent eight batters to the plate--Bovee faced the minimum in the other six innings. Of course, the Marauder defense turning four double plays didn’t hurt.

Yes, it was an odd game. But in 1991, consider it par.