3-A BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Mira Mesa’s Hause, Montgomery’s Wazal Pitch Their Teams into Final

Defending champion Mira Mesa yielded only five hits in three playoff games and advanced to Thursday’s San Diego Section 3-A baseball championship at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Pretty heady stuff, but the Marauders (27-4-1) had better hope that total doesn’t get much higher. Not if they intend to get by scrappy Montgomery (22-5-1).

The Aztecs, young and small but full of heart, captured their third consecutive playoff game in their final at-bat, winning their biggest game ever on Saturday, 1-0, over Castle Park (20-8) to advance to their first championship.

Top-seeded Mira Mesa, behind a three-hitter by Brendan Hause, advanced to its third title game in seven years with a 5-1 victory over Granite Hills (17-10-1) at Southwestern College.

Montgomery pitcher Mike Wazal singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh and became the first player from either team to reach second when pinch-hitter Alex Palacio walked.

Running on a pitch to Carlos Acuna, Wazal continued around third and scored easily when Acuna’s two-hopper to second was bobbled by Castle Park’s Jason Guerrero.

Second-seeded Montgomery, which won its two previous playoff games in extra innings, wanted to stay close. Because of the CIF rule that allows pitchers to throw only 10 innings in a week, Montgomery knew Castle Park’s Benji Gil could only go six after throwing four innings of no-hit ball on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Gil, who entered with a 0.58 earned run average, allowed only two hits--to Acuna and Wazal--walked one and hit one in the first six innings. Gil’s replacement, sophomore Vico Moreno (6-5), began the seventh by striking out cleanup hitter Antonio Serena, but the next batter was Wazal.

“We were able to hold them and stay close. That was our strategy,” Montgomery Coach Manny Hermosillo said.

Said Castle Park Coach Bob Korzep, “Our plan was just to get one run. We felt if we could get one run, we’d win.”

Wazal (6-2) foiled that. He allowed only two hits and one walk, retired the final 11 and faced only two over the minimum.

Gil, second on the all-time section hit list, had one of the Trojans hits, but he was erased attempting to steal second in the fourth inning.

Mira Mesa’s Hause, keeping his curve on the corners, struck out 10, seven looking. Still, his three-hitter was the worst performance by a Marauder pitcher in four games.

Mike Bovee pitched the first no-hitter in Mira Mesa history to end the regular season, and Marc Nielsen got the second in the Marauders’ first-round playoff game. Bovee, who will start the championship game, came back with a two-hitter in the quarterfinals.

“We’ll take a three-hitter,” Mira Mesa Coach Mike Prosser said.

Hause (7-1) might have had a gem himself, but the left-hander yielded three consecutive singles to Ryan O’Coyne, Tom Fordham and Chad Burchett in the second inning. A two-out fielding error gave Granite Hills a 1-0 lead.

Mira Mesa, which failed to score off O’Coyne in his three innings (10-inning rule), rallied for three runs off Fordham (3-5) in the fifth and two off Tom Potts in the seventh.

Hause started the rally in the fifth with a double. Bovee was three for three with a walk and two RBIs.