2011 Playoffs - Week 1

We got off on the wrong foot in our first round game on May 25^th against Brawley HS. This was a game we expected to win, and with a 4-0 lead after four innings, it was looking like we would. But those were all the runs we scored, while Brawley got three runs in the fifth and then two more in the seventh to win 5-4... sending us now to the loser’s bracket.

After Montgomery HS lost to El Capitan HS in the first round, we played Montgomery on May 27^th in the second round. Winner advances, loser goes home. Montgomery jumped to a 2-1 lead in the first inning, but our bats came alive to score four runs in the third inning to coast to an 8-3 win. Complete game by senior Evan Crower.

The first two games were at home, but the third round game on May 28^th was at Granite Hills HS. After El Capitan overwhelmed Brawley 11-0 in the second round, it provided us a chance to make up for our first round loss. After a scoreless first inning, we scored five runs in the second inning to cruise behind a complete game by senior Kiki Medina to win 5-2.

We entered the Division 3 playoffs ranked third behind Cathedral Catholic HS and El Capitan. Cathedral is on the other side of the bracket, have been undefeated so far in the playoffs, and now verse Monte Vista HS for the right to advance to the finals. On our side, we must now beat El Capitan twice (5/31 and 6/2) to advance to the finals at Tony Gwynn Stadium on June 4^th at 1:00pm.

Here are some of the faithful Saints fans.

Nick Ruppert

Congratulations to Nick Ruppert for being selected as Player of the Week (5/15). Junior Ruppert went a combined 4 for 7 with 2 homeruns over league rival Mira Mesa during the final week of the regular season. Nick's consistent play and big hits have helped the Saints win the Eastern League.

Recruiting

This past week we finished my online recruiting profile with Student-Athlete Showcase, and sent an email to schools that might fit my academic and athletic needs. I have been very flattered by the number of schools that have replied so far, and will now be reviewing these schools more closely to determine which ones are the best fit.

Growing up in San Diego, when I first considered where I would want to go to school, my initial thought was to stay in Southern California. However, through this process I have come to realize how many great schools are in the United States, and how I should not limit my school selection.

2011 Playoff schedule

Saints is the smallest Division 3 school listed in the CIF San Diego section. We are listed to have an enrollment of 1440, but that’s doubled because we are an all boy’s school. Most of the schools in the Eastern League are either Div 1 or 2. But now the playoffs brings all the Div 3 schools together again.

We are ranked third behind Cathedral Catholic and El Capitan, which gives us a first round bye. Here is our game schedule:

May 25 - First round *

May 27 - Second round *

May 28 - Third round

May 31 - Fourth round

June 2 - If necessary

June 4 - Finals

* Guaranteed. All other games rely on us to win.

2011 Season - Week 11

It was the final week for Saints in the Eastern League. We would be facing Division 1 school Mira Mesa HS on Tuesday (5/17) and Thursday (5/19), and we needed to win one of the two games to guarantee at least a share of the league title with MMHS.

We got up early in the first game and cruised to a 6-4 win. However, we dug a big hole early in the second game, trailing 7-2 after two innings. We got the score to 9-5 after six, and then I pitched a scoreless inning at the top of the seventh to set up our bats for the bottom of the inning. And it nearly happened, scoring two more runs, but with the bases loaded and two outs, our final batter struck out. We lost 9-7, so ended the league season sharing the title with MMHS.

Here is the video from the seventh inning that I pitched:

2011 summer schedule

Here is the schedule for the bigger events I will be at this summer:

June 11-12, Perfect Game Sunshine West Showcase (Chula Vista, CA)

June 17-21, PW 18U (Scottsdale, AZ), So Cal Dirtbags

July 1-6, OC Firecracker (Orange County, CA), So Cal Dirtbags

July 9-10, Team One West Showcase (Costa Mesa, CA)

July 30- Aug 5, Phil Singer (San Diego, CA), So Cal Dirtbags

2011 Season - Week 10

It was a busy week for Saints in the Eastern League. We had a game on Monday against Morse HS (5/9), then games against Patrick Henry HS on Tuesday and Thursday (5/10 and 12). We won all three games, and I can’t think of another more productive week for the offense than this one. Our bats accounted for nearly 12 runs a game, and strong pitching helped us manage a seven run margin in each game.

Our team has a lot of arms, and it is weeks like this that we can take advantage of this strength. My turn came in the first game against Patrick Henry. Lately my role has been to relieve the starter, and after starter Evan Crower cruised through five innings, my turn came in the sixth.

This may have been my best inning with my worst stuff. My location was too often low, and there were times my curve came in head high. But I battled. I struck out the first batter, but walked the second batter. Then after going 3-0 with the third batter, I struck him out and then got the fourth batter on a soft grounder to Austin Shives at second for the 4 to 3 out.

Here is video of the first strike out:

Tyler Hofstee

Congratulations to Tyler Hofstee for being selected as Player of the Week (May 8, 2011). The Saints continued their barrage on opposing pitching this week led by sophomore DH/IF Tyler Hofstee who went 3 for 5 with 4 runs scored, 1 sac, 1 BB, 1-2B, a huge grandslam homerun and 6 RBI helping the Saints sweep 2 game Eastern League series with Patrick Henry.

Here's a photo from 2006 of Tyler that I found online.

Beating the baseball angels

I was scraping the bottom of the strike zone during my relief outing today against Patrick Henry High School. Not ideal, and it tested an axiom I had been taught.

After stiking out the first batter in the 6th inning, I walked the next. Ugh! A past coach of mine, Justin James, used to talk about how the baseball angels like to penalize the pitcher at times like this. But I struck out the next batter and the fourth batter tinked one to second for the third out. Take that, angels.

My dad took some photos, and while these were not of the same pitch, he put them in the order to make it seem that way... hopefully.

2011 Season - Week 9

I had been on a roll recently but that stopped this week. I hope everyone gets a bad outing as I now have had my turn.

Our non-league game against Mater Dei Catholic on Tuesday (5/3) hadn’t been going well, with our starter giving up some runs early, and then I came in and didn’t do any better.

I got the first batter out with three pitches, but then struggled with a new ball that was given to me. It didn't seem like it had gotten the pre-game scuffing, and the ump wouldn't give me another one. Well, that slippery ball went into the side of the next batter, and it didn't get much better after that. At least I got out of the inning, but unfortunately the run tally didn’t stop after me either. Our bats nearly saved us in the late innings but we came up short.

Our league game against Morse High School on Thursday (5/5) was much more of a fiesta. We jumped ahead early, converting 16 hits into an eight run shut out.

My redemption outing came on Friday during an intrasquad scrimmage. I have a hard time with our bullpen mounds because they are low, so I was stoked to be throwing from our field’s mound during practice. My pitches looked great, particularly the curve that was ‘PlayStation’ like.

Hopefully I earned back some confidence from the coaches.

Eliot Lowell

Congratulations to Eliot Lowell for being selected as Player of the Week (5/1/11). Junior short stop Eliot Lowell Goes 4 for 5 with a 2b, 3b and 6 RBI on the week.

2011 Season - Week 8

This week was spring break but we still had two league games and a non-league doubleheader. And I pitched in two of the first three games, giving up zero runs.

We had league games against Scripps Ranch HS on Monday (4/25) and Tuesday (4/26), splitting the series with them. After Evan Crower pitched five innings in the Monday game, I came into close, getting three batters on eight pitches.

On Saturday (4/30) we had a non-league doubleheader against San Diego HS. I came in to relieve Kiko Garcia in the fifth inning, getting two stikeouts. Here is a video of the strikeouts: