Ontario’s Quest for Perfection Defies History

As the Southern Section baseball playoffs move into the second round today, only one team remains undefeated, Ontario High at 22-0.

History is against Ontario, the top-seeded team in the 3-A Division, as it tries to become the first team to finish undefeated since 1980, when Oxnard Rio Mesa won the 1-A Division title with a 28-0-1 record. Rio Mesa is the only team to do that in the last 30 years.

“In baseball, no one goes into the season feeling that it will go undefeated,” said Bob Beck, in his 20th season as Ontario’s coach. “We felt that we would be competitive this year, but no one expected this.”

The winning streak’s roots can be traced back two years, when many of this season’s players were sophomores on a squad that reached the 3-A semifinals. Last year, Ontario reached the quarterfinals before losing to Hesperia.

“We definitely have a veteran team that has playoff experience,” Beck said. “They have all grown and played a lot together. We knew that we might have something special early in the season after we went undefeated in the preseason.”

Ontario has a team batting average of .379. Third baseman Cesar Barrera leads with a .555 average and six home runs, followed by catcher Mike Sweeney and shortstop Darrell O’Brien, batting .458 and .455, respectively.

What makes Ontario so tough is that it has a strong pitching staff as well.

Pitchers Mike Hernandez, Angel Campos and Ryan Mitchell have combined for 20 of Ontario’s 22 victories. Hernandez has a 7-0 record with an 0.74 earned-run average. Campos is 7-0 with a 2.50 ERA and Mitchell is 6-0.

Beck said the Jaguars learned a lesson last year when they lost to Hesperia in the playoffs after having defeated the Scorpions twice during the regular season.

“The team was very disappointed losing in the quarterfinals last year,” Beck said. “But they know now that there is a small margin for error in the playoffs. What they did in the regular season is forgotten because everyone starts the playoffs 0-0.”

The Jaguars, who beat North Hollywood Harvard, 13-7, in the first round last Friday, will face Whittier Pioneer today at 3 p.m.

In a City 3-A Division baseball playoff semifinal, Southeastern Conference rivals Wilson and Franklin will meet for the fifth time this season at 3 p.m. today at East Los Angeles College.

Wilson, top-seeded in 3-A, has defeated Franklin in three of their four meetings.

“We have played them good all season, and they know that we can play with them,” said Franklin Coach Richard Campbell, whose Panthers won the 3-A title in 1989. “We will go into the game loose and they will be tight, because they have everything to lose and we have everything to gain.”

Franklin’s only victory over Wilson was in the final of the Eastside tournament earlier this season.

“We will have to score early because Wilson has won so many tight games in the sixth and seventh inning this season,” Campbell said. “It is important for us to have a lead and make them catch up.”

To say sophomore Marion Jones of Rio Mesa is in a class by herself is an understatement when considering her four-event performance last Friday in the Southern Section 3-A Division track and field meet.

Jones, defending state 100- and 200-meter champion, had the Cerritos College crowd buzzing every time she ran. She did not disappoint, setting three Southern Section records.

She started the meet by anchoring Rio Mesa’s 400-meter relay team from fourth place to first in a time of 48.39 seconds. An hour and a half later, Jones won the 400 meters in 52.91, a Southern Section record and fastest mark in the nation this year.

Twenty minutes after that, she won the 100 in 11.30--the fifth-best prep time ever and a Southern Section record--and then 80 minutes later, she won the 200 in 23.06, another Southern Section record.

For the Masters meet Friday at Cerritos College, Jones will drop the 400 to concentrate on the sprints and the short relay. Rio Mesa Coach Brian FitzGerald said that it was his choice to lighten the load.

“We are thinking of what is best for her,” he said, “and she would be risking an injury if she tried to do four events.”

For the last three years, Juliana Yendork of Walnut High has chased the national prep outdoor triple jump record. Last Friday, she got it.

Yendork became the first high school girl to jump 43 feet, leaping 43-6 in winning the 2-A Division title. The two-time defending State long and triple jump champion also won the long jump with a mark of 20-1 3/4, which is the best in the nation this season.

Yendork’s triple jump broke the mark of 42-11 3/4, set last month by Twylana Harrison of Levelland, Tex.