Enomoto, Ibarra Double Up to Lift Mission Bay

Neither second baseman Joe Enomoto nor shortstop J.J. Ibarra look imposing. Enomoto is only 5-foot-9 and Ibarra only 5-6, but the Mission Bay double-play duo proved to be too big for Hilltop Wednesday in the AA Division finals of the 42nd Lions/Mike Morrow Baseball Tournament.

Enomoto and Ibarra killed three Hilltop rallies in the first four innings by turning nifty double plays. The Lancers’ offense never quite got in gear as they fell, 4-1, at Hilltop High.

“Those guys are pretty tough,” Hilltop Coach John Baumgartner said. “We just couldn’t seem to find the holes. We had the right people up, but we couldn’t get it done.”

The Lancers’ third hitter, Bobby Lugo, was up in the first with a man on and one out. He hit a smash to Ibarra, and a couple seconds later the inning was over.

Hilltop (6-10), which beat USDHS, 3-2, in the morning to reach the finals, scored a run in the second with no outs when Nathaniel Dighera doubled and Jorge Munoz singled. But a popup and another double play ended the rally.

In the fourth, Hilltop had cleanup hitter Dighera at bat with Lugo on first. Dighera hit it hard, but to the wrong place. Enomoto, just a sophomore, scooped up Dighera’s grounder and the inning was over in an instant.

“Joe and J.J. are so slick up the middle it’s not even funny,” said Mission Bay catcher Shane Stroberg, who went three for three with a double and two RBIs.

Not bad for a couple guys who switched positions a couple weeks ago.

“Joe was struggling at shortstop and J.J. had played short before,” Mission Bay Coach Dennis Pugh. “It’s made all the difference in the world in our defense.”

Ibarra also singled, stole a base and scored a run.

The Buccaneers (11-4) cruised through the Lions tournament with a 5-0 record, including a 3-0 semifinal victory over Madison, and have won six of their last seven.

Sophomore Jeff Dufek (3-1) went 5 1/3 innings for Mission Bay before giving way to junior Jason Martin, who entered in the sixth with the bases loaded and one out.

After falling behind on the count, 3-and-0, Martin struck out Munoz, then Hernandez.

Mission Bay scored two in the second on back-to-back doubles by Ivan Espinosa and Stroberg and a run-scoring single by Eric Serrano. It got two more in the third on a RBI triple by designated hitter Adam Stuart and a RBI single by Stroberg.