HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Micknius Is the Correct Answer for RBV

Mike Micknius became a pitching hero and a trivia answer Wednesday.

Micknius, the little-used Rancho Buena Vista right-hander, was summoned in the third inning against Poway with the bases loaded, nobody out, three runs in, trailing 4-0. Eric Seckner was benched because of uncharacteristic wildness.

“None of us, the coaching staff included, knew which way the game was going to teeter,” RBV Coach Steve Hargrave said.

It teetered RBV’s way because Micknius did not totter. First he picked a runner off third base and then he got a double-play ball hit to the third baseman. The Longhorns survived, Hargrave breathed a sigh of relief, and Micknius (1-0) allowed only two hits over five innings in a 5-4 Palomar League victory over No. 8 Poway, the school’s first.

RBV (12-8-1, 7-2) remained in first place, while Poway (13-5, 6-3) dropped to third. The Longhorns still face the second half of their brutal schedule this week when they play No. 5 Vista on Friday.

The Longhorns won because they scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. After Eric Borgeson walked, Poway’s Brandon Marks (1-2) replaced starting pitcher Kevin Van Dommelen. Borgeson was picked off first base by the catcher, Mark Phillips, during a failed bunt attempt. With one out, Mark Pallotto singled and took second on a throwing error. Grady Griffith, batting .250, doubled down the right field line to tie the game (his second RBI), and he scored the winning run on Robby Kielman’s single to left.

Seckner (5-1, 0.28) allowed a home run to Phillips, the cleanup batter, in the second inning, then his control disappeared in the third. Singles by the No. 8 and 9 hitters, Matt Turner and John Butler (who had the only two hits off Micknius), three consecutive walks, and a two-strike RBI single by Phillips created a jam that brought Micknius into the game. He got out of the inning on four pitches after Nick Dragomire fielded Chris Wisdom’s grounder, stepped on third base and threw to first to complete the double play.