One for the Books : Berumen’s Academic Achievements at Westminster Overshadow His Ability as a Pitcher

That “Golden Apple,” given each year to the most outstanding student at Johnson Middle School, is still around the Berumen house. Somewhere.

Missing too, is that first baseball championship trophy, the one Mauricio (Wijo) Berumen won when he was 9. It’s collecting dust someplace. No one knows exactly where.

These knickknacks are tributes to Berumen, a senior pitcher at Westminster. As his mother, Alice Romero, quite proudly points out, he was destined. For what? Easy, success. You don’t need baubles to see that.

“He’s become an example to his cousins,” Romero said. “My mother used to take his report cards and tests back to San Bernardino to show all the grandkids.”

Come June, Berumen will graduate from high school, becoming the first in his family to do so in the four-year period. He will leave with a grade-point average among the highest in the school.

Almost buried in that academic resume is Berumen’s baseball career, which has become vital to his team this season.

Berumen, who had never pitched an inning on the varsity level before this season, is 7-0 with a 2.09 earned-run average. He is a big reason Westminster will make the playoffs for the first time since 1988.

A nice balancing act--athletics and academics--but Berumen knows which way the scale is tipping.

“The only way to advance in this society is with an education,” Berumen said. “I understand how important that is to me, to my future. You can’t do anything in this country without an education, unless you’re a great baseball player, which I’m not.”

That would be hard to prove to first-year Westminster Coach Jim Doyle. Berumen turned into a rather husky safety net, one the Lions needed.

Westminster lost Kent Montgomery, the Sunset League pitcher of the year in 1994, to a knee injury before the season. Montgomery, who was 9-2 last season, was the reason people expected the Lions to challenge for the new Golden West League title.

In stepped Berumen, who spent almost his entire junior year on the junior varsity. The Lions, in second place, haven’t missed Montgomery a bit.

Berumen started the opener and beat Encino Crespi, 9-2.

“He’s done everything I asked and more,” Doyle said. “We were supposed to have Kent back before the first Tustin game, but he wasn’t ready. I asked Wijo to pitch.”

Berumen beat the league-leading Tillers, 3-1.

“I really didn’t expect this much success,” Berumen said. “I just came out to play with my friends one last time. This is the last year I’m going to see most of them.”

Berumen’s path isn’t on the bases.

Scouts don’t view him as draft material. Doyle said Berumen would need a couple of community college seasons for Division I programs to be interested.

But colleges are still lining up to get Berumen. He has been accepted to UCLA and UC Davis. UC San Diego has offered a partial academic scholarship. Out-of-state schools are almost begging him to apply.

That please-come-here recruitment is normally connected with athletic achievement. But the only curve Berumen expects in his future is a grading procedure.

“Maybe I could pitch at a Division III school,” Berumen said. “But that’s not why I’m going to college.”

Berumen became an academic commodity after scoring 1,300 on his pre-SAT test. He was named honorable mention National Hispanic Merit Scholar.

Although colleges took notice for the first time, no one who knew Berumen was surprised by his performance. After all, he has a 4.1 grade-point average at Westminster and his course load includes three advanced placement classes.

Berumen, one of five sons, will be the first in his family to attend college, if he receives enough financial aid. The scholarship offers help and they are needed.

Romero, who works for the Westminster school district, and her husband, Francisco Berumen Sr., have struggled to provide for the family. Francisco Berumen, who had a landscaping business, was injured in a 1985 automobile accident and has not worked since. The family has survived on a settlement from the accident and on Romero’s salary.

Things are a little better today. The three oldest sons, who live at home, also work. They do without such luxuries as a telephone.

Expenses will mount for Berumen. Advanced placement tests, which can earn students college credit, cost $72 each. He will take three next month.

Westminster also charges a $150 athletic fee. Berumen worked off part of it by volunteering to work for the baseball program at the Westminster Tet Festival. He put in six hours--three shifts--in two days.

“I figure I’ll need to pay $1,000 for college each year, with grants and everything,” Berumen said. “Maybe I’ll get a summer job. I’ll do anything to get through college.”

Berumen was on the academic high road long before high school. He was reading before he entered kindergarten and qualified for the district’s accelerated academic program program when he was in the third grade.

Berumen was student body president and was awarded the “Golden Apple” at Johnson Middle School, which is chosen by a vote of the school’s teachers each year.

“It goes to the school’s most well-rounded student,” Principal Christine Harrison said.

Berumen’s athletic skills weren’t quite on a par with his pitching, but they were close. He learned the game by playing with his older brothers.

They would put tape on the garage to outline a strike zone and pitch tennis balls to each other. A home run was anything hit over the house across the street.

“The banging could drive you crazy,” Romero said. “It would get to you sometimes, but usually it was OK.”

It was for Berumen, who was asked to move from Westminster’s lower minor league to the major leagues when he was 9. He was reluctant at first.

“My dad kept asking him to come up to our team,” Westminster third baseman Heath Wilcox said. “He finally did and threw back-to-back no-hitters.”

Said Berumen: “I don’t remember that.”

No?

“Oh, but he hit a home run after he was called up,” Romero said.

Said Berumen: “I guess so.”

Berumen’s most recent memories mesh with his academic drive.

Friday, Berumen pitched five innings against Tustin and left leading, 7-2, in a game Westminster lost, 9-8. But you can’t hang that on Berumen. He allowed only three hits and one earned run.

Berumen prepared for that key game by leaving Thursday’s practice early, something he often does to study.

He went to the Long Beach State library, where he studied for an upcoming class debate on gun control. He then attended a speech by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) for another class project. He finished the evening by studying for the upcoming advanced placement tests.

He does it all for the future.

“The night he was given the Golden Apple, he handed me the award and said, ‘This is for you,’ ” Romero said. “I always knew he was destined to be a success.”